Yugioh: The Chamber Opens
by Zack Hiwatari-Chan
Summary: Life for the group has calmed down just as the new school year begins. But Between Yami no Games, Students being Petrified, and the general insanity that goes on at Hogwarts. Life suddenly get's a whole lot more exciting.
1. Bad Luck Begins Early

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Today was a hectic day in more ways than one. September first was the day that all Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry boarded the Hogwarts Express and returned to school for another year. So naturally all over Brittan families were running around making sure their children or siblings had everything they would need for the school year.<p>

Then they would drive to Kings Cross Station and cross through the barrier between nine and ten. Entering Platform nine and three quarters to make sure their child or sibling actually got on the train.

But something different happened this year, just a few minutes before the train was set to leave. A horrifying crash echoed around the Kings Cross train station in London. As an unfortunate raven haired and green eyed young man had just run his trolley head first into the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Normally, you'd think that this was some sort of horrible unfortunate accident. But in reality, that barrier shouldn't have been quite so solid. But it had been very solid; the crash was causing quite a scene actually.

Harry Potter groaned. He was unaware of the many people staring at him. "What happened?" He was lying flat on his back and felt as though he had just run into a brick wall. Which he had, the barrier was made of bricks after all. Hedwig screeched indignantly from her cage. Someone was helping him to his feet. "Ryou, what the hell happened?" Harry shook his head trying to clear away the stars he was seeing. Even if they were a lovely Gryffindor red, they wouldn't do him much good at the moment.

Ryou Bakura had an expression of barely restrained panic. "The Barrier didn't let you through, it won't let anyone else through actually. We missed the train!" He whimpered. Oh how Ryou wished that this kind of thing wasn't so typical of Harry's hateful luck. "Ron is freaking out and so am I!" Ryou pushed Harry towards his trolley. "Hurry up we need to get out of here. We've caused enough of a scene." He hissed sounding extremely stressed out. Ryou then left Harry to go drag Ron Weasley towards the exit.

Harry quickly made sure everything was still on his Trolley and pushed it after Ryou and Ron. Squashing the feelings on panic that had started to surface, just because they couldn't get on the platform that didn't mean they couldn't get to school. At least that's what Harry hoped. He really didn't want to get in trouble for not turning up at the sorting. By now the Hogwarts Express would be pulling out of the station. If Ryou was right, and Ryou was so rarely wrong, they were currently trapped on the wrong side of the station. No train on the Muggle side of Kings Cross would be able to take them to their school for magic.

Once they were outside the station Harry worked on stopping his companions from freaking out. "It's not that big a deal guys. Someone will realize what happened eventually." Harry shrugged. "Besides, it's not like there aren't other ways to get to school." Harry wasn't exactly sure on that part actually. After all, Hogwarts wasn't like Muggle Primary school. You couldn't walk there if you missed the train. But at least it seemed to calm them down. It was warm outside, the sun was shining and clouds were sparse. There was a light breeze which ruffled their hair as it blew past them.

Ron thought over Harry's words and hesitantly nodded in agreement, smiling nervously. "Yeah, yeah you're probably right Harry. Let's just go wait by the car." Ron motioned to the blue Ford Angela which wasn't too far away. "Mum and Dad can just apparate back to the platform and come looking for us." He trailed off, not liking the look in Harry's eye. Ron had seen it one too many times when playing Aurors and Outlaws.

Ryou frowned suspiciously. "Harry, what are you thinking?" Ryou asked cautiously. That look was never a good sign. More so when it was coming from Harry, the last time Ryou had seen that look he ended up being pushed in a lake. He could swim, and they had gone there to go swimming in the first place. But still Ryou had learned from that experience. He had learned that Harry Potter was prone to crazy ideas when he had too much sugar. Or when he was bored, or at any point in time really.

Harry grinned as if he had just had a revolutionary idea on par with the discovery of gravity. "I'm thinking the car of course! Ron you're brothers, taught you how to drive it!" Harry said excitedly. Though Ryou had a feeling that this might be a concussion talking, Harry had run into the barrier pretty hard after all. It was the only rational explanation for hwy Harry would think it was okay to drive a card all the way to Hogwarts. Which was somewhere in Scotland, rather far from their current location in the heart of London.

Ron blinked and stared at harry for a minute, before an identical grin grew across his face. "That's bloody brilliant mate!" The red head cast a glance back at the car. "We'll be at school before the train even if we leave now and fly fast enough!" Ron was just as excited about the idea as Harry was now.

Ryou then paled as he remembered that the Weasley Families car had been charmed to _fly_. Ryou hated heights. He always had. The thought of flying of any type was terrifying to him. But the fact that Ron would be the one driving. That just made it all the more unlikely that Ryou would willingly get in the car with them. "I don't think that's a good idea." Ryou stated nervously. "Flying is dangerous. In the middle of day in muggle London it's an even worse idea then it normally would be. We could be seen and get in trouble for breaking the statue of secrecy!" Ryou knew that it wasn't a particularly valid point. Due to Ron's dad knowing every loophole there was in that law. But he had to say something other than 'I'm terrified of heights and I don't trust you two to get me to school alive'. Somehow Ryou didn't think they would take that very well.

"Relax Ryou." Harry grinned. "Our plan is full proof!" Harry pushed his trolley towards the car, Ron followed his lead.

Ryou blinked. "What plan? You two just up and decided to take the car, that's not a plan!" Ryou argued pushing his own trolley after them. "We should just wait here for Ron's parents to come back." Ryou insisted as Ron opened the trunk with a few taps of his wand. Ignoring him, Harry began to put their stuff into the car.

Harry answered Ryou a few moments later as Ron was loading the last of their things into the trunk. "Well, we probably could wait here. But flying will be much faster. Besides, who can say they flew to school in a car? No one! Well, we can now but that's not the point." Harry laughed. He grinned at Ryou. "Just give it a shot. I promise I'll never make you do something like this ever again!" Harry declared.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Ryou scolded. "But I guess I can try anything once." Ryou sighed and allowed Harry to unload his trolley into the trunk.

Harry then slammed the trunk of the car shut and dragged Ryou over to the front of the car. "You want shotgun?" Harry asked with an excited grin. Ryou shook his head no and got in the back with Hedwig and Scabbers. "Suit yourself!" Harry laughed and got in the passenger seat next to Ron, who was of course, in the driver's seat.

As soon as they took off Ryou had the oddest feeling he had made a horrible mistake. Though that was probably because a few moments later they almost crashed into a building, and that was _before _Ron activated the invisibility booster.


	2. Crashes, Feasts, and Secrets

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>By now the group who had actually managed to get on the train had noticed that they were missing a few members. After tossing around some ideas, they realized that there wasn't much they could do to help the missing trio.<p>

"We'll just have to hope they don't get themselves killed on the way to school." Seto said his tone of voice making it seem as if he doubted that would happen. Though at the moment he was too busy working on something on his laptop to care about what had happened to them. He was sitting near the open window.

Hermione sighed and leaned back in her seat across from Seto. "I suppose I have to agree." She looked around the compartment, which also held Neville and Yugi. She had an open book sitting in her lap.

Yugi shook his head; he was sitting on the ground and working on a complicated looking wooden puzzle. Yami was sitting across from him offering help. "Those guys have worse luck then the rest of us combined!" Yugi couldn't believe that they had gotten into trouble, and school hadn't even started yet. They had to be breaking some kind of trouble making record.

Neville shrugged, he was sitting next to Hermione and flipping through a book on magical plants. "Harry is the living definition of; um what's the Muggle phrase I'm looking for? Oh right, 'Trouble Magnet'. It's not that big of a shock. I just hope they don't do something stupid on their way to school. I mean, it's kind of obvious they'll turn up at some point. But how they turn up is probably going to get them in serious trouble if they aren't careful." Neville had a point. But no one was all that worried. Harry had the devils luck. He'd be fine, for the most part.

But that didn't stop Hermione from planning on ripping of Harry and Ron's ears if they did something stupid like she guessed they had.

Conversation quickly moved to more mundane things like classes. No one was all that worried about the Trio who were probably on their way to school just like they were.

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><p>Ryou was shaking in terror. The last four hours had been horrible. Ron had lost control of the car twice, they had done four flips, and nearly crashed into things so many times he had lost count! If he hadn't been traumatized by that horrible adventure back in Nocturne Alley, he was certainly traumatized now! Hogwarts was only just coming into view, and the train wasn't that far behind them. At least they wouldn't be late for the feast. At least that's what Ryou told himself to block out Bakura's laughter. Bakura seemed to find this whole situation very amusing for reasons Ryou would rather not try to figure out.<p>

Suddenly the engine started making a sickening sputtering noise. Ron froze in horror as the car started to fall from the air. Harry yelped and lunged for the steering wheel and jerked it to the left. Ensuring that the car barely missed hitting a tree, the tree was a rare breed called the Whomping Willow. Ryou recognized it from when he read Hogwarts a History. It was mentioned in one of the chapters.

The car crashed into the ground, though due to the sheer number of safety charms put on the inside of the car. They were unharmed. But the car was dead. It had no more gas and wouldn't move. Even Ryou, who knew nothing about cars, knew this. That was going to be a slight problem for them later.

Harry was the first to move. Harry got out of the car, followed quickly by Ryou and Ron. Ryou felt as though he could kiss the ground. But didn't because that wouldn't have been very sanitary. Suddenly the car roared to life and the trunk popped open, all of their things were launched out by some force, which Ryou suspected was the car itself. It then drove off into the forbidden forest.

"Well, that was unexpected." Harry blinked. His astonishment only lasted for a few moments. Harry then turned to go and make sure Hedwig was okay, and to pick up his trunk.

Ron was pale. "Dad's going to kill me, we just lost the car!" From Ron's tone of voice you'd think he had just lost an important family pet, not the car. But Ryou figured that Ron had every right to be freaking out. Even if his dad was the least of his problems, Ms. Weasley was much more terrifying then her husband when angry.

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><p>Harry, Ron, and Ryou had managed to find the room where their trunks and pet cages were stored until they were taken to their common rooms. Thankfully they had found the rooms before the trunks were moved. They were a tad bit early, the rest of the school would be arriving from the train station any moment, or that's what Ryou assumed.<p>

But as per their luck, they were caught just before they could enter the great hall, Filch was intending on taking them straight to Professor Snape. But suddenly Ryou found himself in his soul room. _'What in the world?'_ Ryou thought in confusion. Before it dawned on him, Bakura had taken control. What was Bakura going to do? Ron didn't know about Bakura yet! Ryou had made Harry swear not to tell anyone because Ryou had wanted to be the one to tell them when the time was right.

Harry raised an eyebrow. He would have to be an idiot not to notice the change between Bakura and Ryou. Now that he knew what to look for at least. The changes in appearance were surprisingly subtle. The change in hair could easily have been caused by one of the drafts let in from the window near them. The eyes changing from brown to red could have simply been a trick of the light.

It was the non-physical changes that made the most difference. Bakura held himself with an arrogance that Ryou could never pull off. Cruelty and darkness came off of Bakura in waves. As well as that odd type of magic that came from the Millennium Ring. It felt different then the magic used at Hogwarts, It felt Darker, but at the same time lighter. A mixture of the two he supposed.

"The sorting is about to begin. You two should go on ahead. I'll. . . . Deal with Filch." Bakura's smirk made Harry nervous. But he supposed Filch deserved whatever Bakura had in store for him. And Ryou would stop Bakura from being anything too bad. At least, Harry hoped he would, or could. Harry still wasn't clear on the details of how their soul swapping or whatever they called it worked quite yet.

Ron looked confused but didn't have time to ask what was going on. Harry had dragged him back towards the steady stream of students entering the great hall. They slipped into the room and into seats on either side of Hermione.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at them. "And where have you two been? Where's Ryou, he was with you I believe." She whispered frowning in disapproval, ignoring the fact that the sorting had begun. In her eyes, interrogating them was much more important than the new first years. Even if one of them was Ron's little sister and the other was Ron's little sisters best friend.

Harry shrugged. "Ryou's busy. He'll be back when he's done with whatever it is he had to do." Harry wasn't going to rat out Bakura, only because Ryou asked him not to. He hated keeping secrets from his friends. But Ryou might be his brother soon if Seto knew what he was doing. And Family came before friends Harry supposed.

Ron blinked but didn't call Harry out on the lie, besides it has enough of the truth in it for it to not be a total lie. Ron wasn't as stupid as most people thought. If Harry was hiding something, it was for a good reason. But if Harry didn't tell them what was up soon, Ron would have to try and get it out of him. But if Harry was really determined to keep them in the dark, he'd have a hell of a hard time trying to get Harry to reveal whatever it was he was hiding.

Just as the feast began Bakura slipped into the hall and sat down across from Harry. His seat was actually next to Neville, who was sitting across from Hermione. Bakura had arrived so stealthily that no one had even noticed him sit down until he was right in front of them.

Hermione raised an eyebrow in question. But on seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer reluctantly let the matter drop. She would weasel it out of them later anyway. None of her friends could keep secrets from her for long when she was truly in the mood. The feast began and Hermione tried to subtly trick Harry and Ron into telling her what had really happened.

The feast ended on a very cheerful and mundane note as the students were sent back to their common rooms for a good night's rest before classes began the next morning. Hermione was unsuccessful in getting information from Ron and Harry, but she wasn't too concerned. It was only a matter of time after all.

The two boys fell asleep wondering just how they would keep their secrets from Hermione. They didn't come up with any decent idea's before they succumbed to slumber.

**Note!**

**And their finally back to school! This year is going to kick off with a bang I can assure you~**

**You're all curious about the Dairy I'm sure. And I hope you enjoy what I've done with it and with this story in general. I really really love my plans for this story X3**

**And Yes. I made it so they didn't get caught by the teachers. Why? Because I didn't feel like writing that part XD So I changed it.**

**Thanks for reading! Drop me a review and I'll see if I can have the next chapter up in the next few days!**

**Seeya next time!**


	3. Breakfast and Herbology

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Fred and George Weasley, the reigning kings of pranks at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry were appalled when word that their little brother and his best friend had beaten their record for getting into trouble. And gotten away with it too! So naturally they had to do something about it. That morning at breakfast they did the first thing that came to their minds that would get them in serious trouble. The red haired devils of Gryffindor tower started a food fight. It started very simply. A well aimed toss of fruit on either side of the great hall. A few students retaliated, and from there it escalated into utter chaos.<p>

Hermione had ducked under the table with Neville, Ryou, and Yugi. They were one of the lucky few students who were able to avoid getting dragged into participating in the food fight. Over their heads, all around them, and over the table of course, food was flying. There was screaming, laughing, cheering, and all around chaos as the teachers struggled to regain control of the students. Who were frankly having too much fun to care that they were going to get in serious trouble for this. Hermione noted that Ron, Harry, and Seto were right in the thick of things as usual. They wouldn't get in trouble; the teachers were too intent on punishing the Weasley twins to punish everyone who had participated. Even Hermione could see that.

A few minutes later Harry ducked under the table with his arms full of bananas and oranges. "Hey you guys have got to get out here!" Harry said excitedly, Hermione noticed the front of his robes and a good deal of his hair was covered in oatmeal. "Someone, I think it was a Hufflepuff, probably the black haired girl pelting the twins with toast. But anyway, I think she just nailed Snape in the face with a sausage!" Harry seemed to be having trouble staying still. He was shaking with excitement. "Come on, I want to launch an attack on the Slytherin's. Malfoy just hit me with a bowl of oatmeal. I think I deserve revenge." Harry's grin was utterly terrifying. Hermione almost felt Sorry for Draco.

Yugi blinked. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea Harry. . . ." But of course no one heard him over the chaos and the fact that Harry now had Ryou's attention.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Well, if it's revenge you're after you won't want to use those." Ryou motioned to the oranges and bananas. "It was a good idea, but honestly. Apples will fly farther; you know what let me show you what I mean." Ryou said getting out from under the table and snatching an apple from Ginny. "Terribly Sorry Ginny but I need to borrow this." Ryou said and snatched a banana from Harry. "Use this. I suggest tossing it at Zacharias Smith." He handed the banana to Ginny and pointed to the Hufflepuff in question.

Ginny grinned. "Alright then, thanks for the advice!" She grinned and tossed the banana, it didn't fly straight, due to all of the other flying food. But it hit her target for the most part.

Hermione winced. "Oh I honestly feel bad for the Slytherin's now. . ." Harry and Ryou made a formidable team. Hermione knew that from the countless times the duo had beaten her and everyone else in Auror's and Outlaws. But Ryou had never seemed like the kind of person who would enter a food fight. Even if Harry was actually really good at convincing people to do things they didn't want to do in the first place. Hermione didn't think Ryou would willingly get involved with this. Apparently she didn't know the quiet Gryffindor as well as she thought she did.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "This is going to be bad. For everyone I think . . . ." Yugi was worried about what would happen when the teachers got everything under control, and it didn't exactly help that Yami seemed to want to join in on the chaos.

Unfortunately for the students of Hogwarts, but fortunately for Yugi, it didn't take much longer for the teachers to calm everyone down and stop the chaos before it could get even worse. Moments after the food fight ended students who were coated in food were suddenly clean. The teachers removed all the food magically. They were all ordered to go to class.

No one complained. They were too busy talking excitedly about how much fun that had been. Even the purebloods couldn't say they hadn't had a blast. The professor's though, were baffled at why anyone would want to do something like that. The Weasley twins would be severely punished for this. Of course, the Professors had no way of knowing that this was the prankster's intentions all along.

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><p>The Gryffindor's first class was Herbology with the Ravenclaw's. The class gathered outside of greenhouse two, which was the one they would be working in that year. The excitement from the food fight had still not worn off any everyone was buzzing with excitement as they were lead inside. There were large pots of some type of plant on either side of a long table in the middle of the room. Sunlight streamed in through the glass walls and ceiling of the green house. At the table at the front of the room there was a large pile of multi-colored earmuffs.<p>

"What do you think we're going to do with those?" Ryou asked Neville interestedly. He wasn't a big fan of Herbology, potions was always his favorite class. But it was interesting enough.

Hermione was examining the plants thoughtfully. "Neville, you don't think we're starting out with Mandrakes do you?" She looked over at Neville. She knew the answers usually. But Herbology was Neville's best subject. Hermione figured that he would know better than her what plant this was. She'd have to look more closely at the leaves to know for sure if it was the plant she thought it was.

Professor Sprout was talking, but Hermione didn't hear a word she said until she asked a question. The only thing Hermione heard in the next five minutes happened to be. "Can anyone tell me what these plants are?" Hermione's hand was in the air before she even fully processed the question. Professor Sprout nodded to Hermione who was the only one with her hand in the air. No one else had bothered to put their hands up when Hermione seemed to instinctually have all the answers to everything, ever.

Hermione grinned and gave the answer without waiting a second. "They're called Mandrakes or Mandragora. They're a magical plant that's cry, If heard, can kill a person." Hermione said in the matter of fact tone of voice that she could never seem to turn off.

Professor Sprout nodded in agreement. "Very good Ms. Granger, five points to Gryffindor. Though, these Mandrakes are still very young. Their cries won't kill you, but they will knock you out for a couple hours." She explained. "So everyone needs come up here and grab a pair of earmuffs before we can begin repotting them." Professor Sprout was barely heard over the sudden stampede towards the front of the room. No one wanted to be stuck with one of the pairs of earmuffs that were bright pink and fluffy.

Ron pushed Terry Boot out of the way and snatched the last pair of non-fluffy earmuffs. "YES!" Ron didn't care that they were maroon. He hated maroon, but pink was worse! Before Terry could try to wrestle the earmuffs from him Ron ran back over to Harry and Hermione.

Hermione laughed and held up her own bright purple earmuffs. "It looks like we were lucky and didn't end up with those atrocious pink ones." As it turned out no one of their circle of friends had ended up with the fluffy pink ear coverings.

Harry and Ryou raised their eyebrows at her. "Luck," They echoed in disbelief. Apparently Harry was rubbing off on Ryou. Hermione wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing just yet.

"Luck had nothing to do with it." Harry grinned. "I had to knock Padma into Parvati, elbow Seamus in the ribs and kick Dean's feet out from under him to get these!" He held up his pair of earmuffs, which were light blue.

Seamus turned around. "Wait a minute that was _you_ who did that? Merlin Potter that was unnecessary! I swear you bruised one of my ribs!" Seamus groaned. He was one of the kids stuck with the bright pink and extremely fluffy earmuffs.

Ryou shrugged. "Harry doesn't think. I only had to duck around the path of confusion and chaos Harry cleared. Everyone was so busy fighting over them that I managed to grab these without any trouble at all." Ryou grinned and pointed to the earmuffs around his neck. They were a nice teal color.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "I'm afraid it's true Seamus." Yugi held up his light read earmuffs. "I'd offer to trade you but I honestly don't think I'd ever live it down if I was seen with those Fluffy Pink ones." He sweat dropped.

Seamus raised an eyebrow. "Alright, try to think more than mate." Seamus said turning back to Harry. Though he realized that he hadn't known that Harry and Ryou were all that close friends. Harry spent more time with Ron during the school year. Though he supposed that they had seen each other outside of school, but of course it wasn't any of _his_ business who Harry hung out with.

"Alright class earmuffs on!" Professor Sprout called, effectively stopping all conversation. "Make sure they're on so that they block out all noise! You won't want to be able to hear the Mandrakes once we pull them out of their pots!"

The lesson went by with little to no problems. Other then the fact that Neville and Mandy Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw passing out from the cry of the mandrakes, they had taken their earmuffs out too soon. The Gryffindor's next class was Defense against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuff's, and the Ravenclaw's had Potions with the Slytherin's.

**Note!**

**I'm going to be honest here. I wasn't going to update until tomorrow XD But I couldn't resist!**

**I love writing these stories! This one will probably come out a lost faster then the first one. **

**XD Probably because I'm extremely excited to _really_ get started with this plot! **

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Seeya in a couple of days~!**


	4. Defense Against The Dark Arts

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>The Gryffindor's rushed into the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom and noticed that the Hufflepuff's were already there but they weren't that surprised. Apparently, you were not supposed to linger outside the green houses and dare each other to eat candy that make smoke come out of your ears and burnt temporary holes in your tongue. Who would have thought?<p>

Ryou was almost instantly pulled away by Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott as soon as he entered the room. Apparently they wanted Potions tutoring. So instead of sitting with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, he ended up sitting between the two girls who could talk faster than he could think. It was a situation that Bakura found highly amusing.

Harry flipped through one of his Lockhart books for the first time and couldn't make it more than a paragraph. He gagged and tossed the book at Hermione. Who caught it and hit him over the head with it. Harry winced. "Okay okay I get it! Don't throw books around. No matter _how_ much they make me sick." He muttered glaring at her.

Hermione glared right back. "They shouldn't make you sick! These books are full of information and were written by our new Professor. I would think you'd have read them before now considering our teacher wrote them, and that means most of the work is going to be based off of them!" Harry was no longer paying attention to her lecture about the importance of being prepared. He was looking around the room and not even bothering to pretend to listen. Sure he was being rude but he didn't exactly care. Hermione didn't even _expect_ him to pay attention at this point.

Harry noticed that in the back corner a girl with black hair and caramel colored skin was writing in what Harry assumed was a small black journal. Harry also recognized her as the girl who he thought had nailed Snape in the face with a sausage at breakfast. Near her were Ernie McMillan and Justin Flinch-Fletchly. But they weren't paying her much attention. Harry wondered why he couldn't remember the name of the girl. Maybe it was because he had never spoken to her before? Well he'd have to change that. He knew the names of almost everyone in his year. Well, he mostly only knew the names of the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's. He decided that he would have to change that. He knew a lot of the Ravenclaws, but there weren't a lot of Hufflepuff's that he interacted with. "Hey guys I'm going to go talk to that girl." Harry said and headed over to the girl. He completely ignored Hermione's surprised look. Hermione then shook her head and sighed. She would have to get used to Harry's random ideas, which would now take place on a more dangerous and magical scale due to being back at school and them being allowed to use magic again.

The girl looked up in surprise when Harry sat down next to her. "Hi. I'm Harry Potter. I realized that I didn't know your name and I felt kind of silly. Since the Gryffindor's have had classes with the Hufflepuff's all last year, I thought I'd introduce myself and try to get your name." Harry had never noticed before but it seemed Ryou's politeness was rubbing off on him. Apparently two weeks of spending all your time with someone went a long way.

The girl blinked in surprise. "Oh, my name is Megan. Megan Jones, I sat in front of you in History of Magic all last year." She raised an eyebrow. "But I guess you never noticed due to all the times you fell asleep in class." She commented. "So there, you've met me." Megan noticed Professor Lockhart enter the room, clad in his blindingly bright turquoise robes he was kind of hard to miss. "You'd better go sit with your friends. It looks like Class is about to begin."

Harry looked over. "Oh. Yeah okay. I'll see you next time we have class together then. Nice meeting you Megan." Harry waved and went back to sit between Hermione and Yugi. He didn't have time to answer their questioning looks as class began.

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><p>The lesson had gone fairly well, it had begun with a pretest to see what they already knew, but there was one big problem. It was all about Lockhart, which Harry was absolutely sure he had failed. But when the real lesson began, things went to hell pretty quickly. Lockhart released a cage of angry Cornish Pixies on their class. And had no idea once oh ever on how to control them. The little blue demons were tearing apart the classroom and attacking students. Though harry was sure a fair amount of them had escaped from the open window and door which was also wide open. Ryou was currently torn between hiding under the desks and trying to get Neville down from the chandelier.<p>

Harry was currently working together with Ron to knock as many of the little buggers out as they could. Those Lockhart books were good for something, even if that something happened to be beating small magical creatures until they were unconscious. Hermione was in shock. Professor Lockhart had just left them to deal with this mess he had made!

Pretty much all of the Hufflepuff's had fled as soon as the Pixies stared ripping apart people's books, so had many of the Gryffindor's, leaving Harry Yugi Ron Hermione Neville and Ryou in the room alone with millions of tiny blue demons. Neville was hanging from the chandelier, Hermione was in shock, and Harry and Ron were practically being beaten by the Cornish Pixies. There were just too many of them! And they were a lot stronger then they looked. Ryou and Yugi were trying to think of a way to get Neville down from the chandelier without Neville having to drop from the ceiling to the ground. As that would be extremely painful and no one particularly wanted to have to drag Neville all the way up to the Hospital Wing and then explain to Madam Pomfrey how their friend had suffered an injury before lunch.

Harry growled as another Pixie bit his ear. "What is with these things and ears?" Harry asked smacking the Pixie with one of the thicker Lockhart books. It crashed against one of the desks, dazed and probably severely concussed. Personally, Harry felt the little beast deserved it.

"No idea mate." Ron said. "But we better snap Hermione out of whatever shock Lockhart put her in. If anyone will know a faster way to get rid of these little Bugger's, it's her." Ron motioned towards Hermione, and then promptly nailed two Pixies with a book. "Take that you little menaces!" He smirked, for two more to start pulling his hair.

Harry turned to Hermione, and hoped he looked as desperate as he felt. "Mione snap out of it! We seriously need your help with this-Okay that's it!" Harry growled and spun around, smacking the Pixie that had just stabbed him in the back of the neck with a quill. He turned back to Hermione. "Please! I can't take much more of this! Everything has gone to hell and Merlin knows you're the only one of us with the ability to fix things before something even worse happens!" Harry knew he sounded desperate, but he didn't think anything else would work. Hermione hadn't moved or tried to help them in over fifteen minutes. Class ended in ten and he was pretty sure that the next bunch of students couldn't come into a room full of rioting blue demons.

Hermione blinked, snapping out of her shock, saw the chaos around her, and immediately pulled out her wand. "You boys really can't do _anything_ without me can you?" She smiled at him.

Harry laughed. "Nope, you're the one that usually takes care of things before they go to hell remember?" Harry grinned. "At least we have an excuse to leave class early! . . . . Or we would have if Lockhart hadn't told us to take care of these things!" He groaned.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Really Harry, it had gotten rather out of control. But I believe I can fix it." She thought for a moment trying to think of the right spell. It was just on the tip of her tongue. . . . "Oh yes! I remember now, _Immobulus_!"

And like that, with one bright blue flash of light. Every Pixie in the room was frozen. And like magic, Neville fell from the Chandelier.

It was Ryou and Yugi who helped him to the Hospital wing. As Ron and Harry were too busy thanking Hermione again and again for saving their butts.

**Note!**

**A short-ish chapter. But I really wanted to have the first DA class be it's own chapter XD **

**Hope you enjoyed reading it! Drop me a review kay? I love hearing what you guys think!**


	5. Howlers and History

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>By the time lunch came around, things hadn't gotten much better than they had been. Charms class was a figurative disaster, well if you count a 'figurative' disaster as a color changing charm gone wrong. Almost everyone who had been in that class ended up with some odd coloration in their hair or skin or robes, well Yugi had almost managed to avoid it, although his robes were now navy blue. It wasn't much of a problem compared to what had happened to everyone else. Harry and Hermione were actually rather lucky in comparison to some. Hermione's brown hair now had light blue streaks; Harry's black hair had some interesting blond highlights, Ron's hair now had some unusual electric blue tips, and Seto now had bright green hair. But again those were some of the better results. Compared to Parvati's bright bubblegum pink hair or Lavender's rainbow streaks, the two of them had gotten rather lucky.<p>

Neither Draco nor Ryou seemed too distressed with their 'makeovers'. Ryou's now light blue hair didn't look all that bad, and Draco's now light brown hair wasn't too odd either. Pansy Parkinson on the other hand was furious with her now canary yellow locks; Daphne Greengrass seemed to be enjoying her new look quite a bit though. Her shoulder length red hair now had a single dark green stripe that matched her eyes. Dean and Seamus on the other hand were despairing over their new looks, their hair had been changed to white and lavender respectively, and their robes had been changed to Slytherin green instead of black. Neville's brown hair was now a nice ginger color and his skin had been changed to a soft tan. Millicent Bulstrode's hair had been turned a shocking blue and purple with a tie-die pattern.

Professor Flitwick announced that as soon as he figured out what had gone wrong, he would remove the charm. But for now they were stuck with their new looks, Seto had been less then pleased to hear this, as having green hair had not been on his to-do list. Hermione examined her reflection in her spoon contemplatively. "You know, I think I'll keep them. If my parents say I can that is." She had always liked blue, and this shade looked rather nice in her hair. Besides, the magical coloring looked much better than the muggle one would, or so she assumed. Plus, she hoped that since it had been an accident in the first place, her parents wouldn't be too upset if she chose to keep them.

"You're probably the only person here who likes what happened. I can't believe half the class mispronounced the spell! And that caused the rest of the class to get messed up and all our charms backfired!" Neville groaned. Sure he had expected _his_ charm to backfire, but the entire class? That was going just a tad overboard in his opinion. Neville really hoped that the rest of the day would be at least a little less chaotic then it had been so far.

Ginny took some salad from a bowl in front of her. "Personally, I think Ron should keep his, at least for a while. Sure mum will go crazy. But blue is such a nice color." Ginny smiled. Her smile suddenly turned evil. "And then you can Hermione will match too!" She giggled.

Ron face palmed. "It's not even the same shade of blue! And I don't like Hermione that way!" He hissed so Hermione couldn't hear. Ron glared at Ginny who simply smiled cheerily.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that Ron." Ginny smirked.

There wasn't any more time for conversation, as Errol, the Weasley family owl crashed into the salad. Ginny was not amused as she was splattered with salad dressing. But the Howler Errol delivered to Ron almost made up for it, until Ms. Weasley mentioned her name.

But she didn't need to worry about herself or Ron being teased about the Howler. It was so horrible and embarrassing. That there was a silent agreement among the students that no one was to mention the Howler ever again, ever. But that was probably only because Ms. Weasley's screaming had made some of the first years ears bleed.

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><p>The group's next class was History of Magic, which all students in their year had at the same time. Supposedly this was done to promote house unity. Hermione personally thought that this happened because this was the only class that they could put the entire year in without someone trying to kill someone else. The house rivalries would seriously endanger everyone in any other class. Hermione wondered if the teachers knew this and just didn't want to admit it. She supposed that if she was a teacher she wouldn't want to admit that they couldn't control a bunch of twelve year old wizards and witches either, though their year was sort of out of control and just a tad chaotic. Hermione mused on this as she followed Seto and Yugi to the History of Magic Classroom. She wasn't really paying attention to where they were going. This was demonstrated by the fact that Ron had to stop her from running into a suit of armor. Thankfully they managed to get to History of Magic without anyone getting hurt.<p>

Before the class had even begun Yugi and Seto started dueling. This prompted most of their fellow students to come and watch. But Professor Binns didn't even notice that as usual, no one was paying attention to his lesson. Hermione watched the duel with little interest. It would probably end like all of Seto and Yugi's other duels. Either as a tie or it would get interrupted by something. Hermione had a feeling that they were subconsciously ending their duels in a tie on purpose. Despite them both being vastly competitive, she got the feeling that because they were friends they didn't really want to beat each other. That and they both seemed to enjoy the challenge, if someone won then it would probably take away the fun of finding out who was better. Her other theory was that the conditions just weren't right, Seto had a flair for the dramatic, and he wouldn't want to beat Yugi, his greatest challenge so far, in a classroom duel. Hermione knew Seto well enough to know that if he beat Yugi, it would have to be in a very public, very dramatic way.

Hermione's thought process was interrupted by Draco Malfoy of all people. "Our duel over the summer ended in a tie." He smirked. "Care for a rematch?" He nodded towards his Slytherin friends. They were all either asleep, or watching the duel. "Ties aren't exactly befitting of a Malfoy."

"Oh I wasn't aware that losing was befitting of a Malfoy." Hermione said mock-innocently. "Alright then Malfoy, Game on." They set up their duel mats and Hermione noticed Harry and Ryou switched from watching Seto and Yugi's duel to watching theirs. But after a few turns Harry turned away, he was bored. Hermione was concentrating on the duel too much to remember what a bad thing that was at the moment. If she had remembered, she might have been able to prevent something chaotic from happening in the near future.

Harry looked around the room for something to do. Instead he noticed that Megan Jones seemed to be freaking out. She was explaining something to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Harry stealthily slipped over to eavesdrop. "Oh it's horrible! I left my journal in the Defense against the Dark Art's classroom. Oh I must have dropped it when those Pixies got loose!" Megan sounded pretty panicked. Harry hoped that she got it back later. "I hope that Professor Lockhart doesn't find it!" Megan gasped in horror.

Harry winced. He knew that, unfortunately for Megan that was the most likely thing that would happen. He hoped she found it before then though. He didn't know a whole lot about girls. But he suspected that Journal of hers was almost as important to her as Hogwarts a History was to Hermione. Eventually harry found something to amuse himself with, even if that 'something' happened to be having a paper airplane race with Ron. By the time the class ended, neither of the duels that had been going on had been completed. Thus they were declared ties and, since classes were over for the day. Everyone went their separate ways.

Harry then had a sudden and 'brilliant' idea. One that Hermione was extremely grateful harry had not had during class. But she knew that since Harry had thought of the idea already, he would definitely remember it tomorrow. Sadly they had potions tomorrow. Hermione hoped that Harry had the sense to wait until _after_ potions at the very latest.

**Note!**

**Sorry for how long this took. I had to _completely_ re-write it becuase I forgot to save before I closed the document. **

**I hope you're not too mad to leave me a review. . . **


	6. Morning at the Pitch

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Harry, it seemed, did indeed have the mental capacity to acknowledge that putting his 'plan' into action before potions would result in something horrible happening to his person. Or at least that's what you'd think. But in reality, Harry had just forgotten his 'brilliant plan'. This was a very good thing for everyone in his year, because if he had remembered he would have put it into action <em>specifically<em> during Potions, just to tick off Snape! They would have gotten in a whole lot of trouble for it, and Hermione would have killed him! Thanks to Harry getting distracted by homework, the idea was pushed to the farthest corners of his mind.

Allowing the week to go by with nothing particularly interesting happening. Until Saturday that is, that Saturday was the first Quidditch practice of the year for the Gryffindor team. Their captain, Oliver Wood, wanted to get ahead of the other teams by starting practice as early as possible it seemed. As such he had booked the pitch for the _entire day_.

Now Normally, Harry would have been all for this. It would have been a great idea in his opinion. But it was Oliver's method of waking them that made him detest the idea. You see Oliver had managed to, very loudly, wake up the entire team, before the sun. Harry was barely conscious as he and the rest of the team followed their captain down to the pitch. Though, Harry was proud to say that he was the only member of the team that managed to stay halfway conscious during Oliver's extremely long and detailed hour long lecture on the new strategies and training methods he had spent the summer coming up with.

Though, he hadn't actually been listening to Oliver go on and on and on about his new idea's. Harry being who he was wasn't one to let an opportunity to go waste. And the fact that the infamous Weasley Twins were currently out like a light was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. So while Oliver was lost in his own little world, Harry sneaked away as stealthily as he could and filled a bucket with Ice water. He dragged it back to the main part of the locker room, and then promptly dumped the bucket of freezing water on the two veteran pranksters.

Their reaction was absolutely worth the revenge they were going to take on him for it later. They had shrieked, loudly, in surprise. They had also jumped a foot in the air, and crashed rather hilariously, into the spare brooms. This racket woke up Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, the Gryffindor Chasers. They all had a good laugh at the twin's expense, but then turned around and began to lay into Oliver for waking them up so early. Harry sweat d

ropped at the chaos he hadn't meant to be the cause of. "Um. . . Can't we all just calm down?" He tried to get everyone to shut up. He was starting to get a headache. "Alright then. . . If anyone needs me I'll be outside. I'm going for a fly." Harry wasn't sure if anyone had heard him, and he didn't actually care. He grabbed his broom and left the suddenly very loud Locker Room and was soon flying around the pitch, the silence quickly diminished his headache until it was all but gone.

As Harry flew around the pitch he noticed that the sun was coming up. This caused the sky to turn various shades of pink orange and red, it was really a sight to see. Harry didn't usually see the sunrise. He was generally awake after the sun rose, or too busy to notice if it had come up already. It was amazing. Harry told himself that he would have to wake up early more often so that he could see it again. He didn't have much more time to contemplate the sunrise though. As the rest of the team quickly joined him outside, though the Chasers still looked a bit angry, and Harry didn't exactly like the conspiring looks on the twin's faces. Harry quickly forgot about all that as they began warm-ups.

Halfway through the new and painstakingly detailed warm-ups Harry noticed that Ryou and Hermione, the only other Gryffindor early risers in their year, were sitting in the stands, along with a half awake Ron, who Hermione probably dragged out to the pitch by force. But that wasn't what really caught his attention. No what caught his attention was the fact that they had brought breakfast. Oliver, in his enthusiasm to begin training, hadn't exactly left them any time to eat before they got started. Harry grinned and dived down towards the stands, pulling out of the dive just in time to avoid crashing into them. "Hey guys!" He greeted with a grin. "You have no idea how happy I am that you brought food!" Harry laughed as Ryou passed him a slice of toast.

Ryou laughed. "You're very lucky that we even thought to. We only thought of the idea as we were leaving. I suppose we should have guessed from the start that Wood didn't give you any time to eat. He is a rather big Quidditch Fanatic after all." Ryou commented. Not fully aware of just how much of an understatement that was. "Seto wanted to come, or at least I think he did. When we invited him he sort of grunted and waved us off. I don't think he's had his morning coffee yet. Though, he's been messing around with that laptop of his so much, I don't think he's even gotten as much sleep as he should have." Ryou frowned in thought.

Hermione turned to him sharply. "Seto hasn't been getting enough sleep?" Hermione hated it when her friends didn't do things that they should do. Homework, Sleeping, Eating, all of those things were important! If Seto wasn't sleeping, Hermione would have to talk to him about that. It irritated her that someone as smart as Seto would willingly lose sleep when he was smart enough to know how important it was. And, no one wanted an angry Hermione Granger on their case.

Ron, having been woken up by Harry's enthusiastic greeting sweat dropped realizing that Ryou might have just set an angry Hermione Granger on one of the last people on the planet you wanted mad at you. Even he could see that if Ryou set Hermione on Seto, Seto would turn on Ryou, and then Harry would jump into help, and probably make things worse. "He said he didn't _think_ he's been getting enough sleep. He doesn't know for sure, He might have just interpreted things wrong." Ron tried to correct the situation before Seto ended up mad at Ryou and things got out of hand. Seto Kaiba was a force to be reckoned with when angry.

Harry grinned at them and put into action his own method for getting Hermione to think about something else. "Hey, the Seeker exercises won't be going on for a while. So I'm going to be pretty bored. We could play a game?" He suggested. "Like Broom tag!" Broom tag was a game that Ron and Ginny had introduced Yugi Seto and Harry to that summer. It was just like normal tag, but on brooms. Harry then remembered that Hermione and Ryou didn't like to fly. "Or we could play Aurors and Outlaws? We'd have even teams." Harry didn't want to exclude anyone if he was going to play a game. It was going to be one that everyone could play.

This started a debate over what game they should play. By the time they had narrowed it down, Yugi and Seto had joined them. Oliver had been somewhat irked that a Slytherin was on the pitch while they were practicing. But once Harry assured him that Seto wasn't a spy, things went much more smoothly, and continued to run smoothly until around noon. Around noon was when things changed, and not in a fun way.

Around noon, the Slytherin team invaded the Pitch. While Harry had been hiding under the bleachers in an attempt to evade Seto who was trying to capture him in their game of Aurors and Outlaws, He could plainly see that this was going to be trouble. Instead of keeping up the game he went back over to the team to inform Oliver that they were coming.

**Note!**

**Not that proud of this chapter. But though it was somewhat pointless, it is necessary for what is to come!**

**Drop me a review if you can. ^_^ Expect the next chapter in a couple days.**


	7. Field Invasion

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Things had been going so well before the Slytherin's turned up. Really they had been. But the Slytherin's had permission from Snape to highjack the pitch from them! And now it looked like Oliver and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Captain, were going to get into a fist fight. Draco, the new Slytherin Seeker was looking more and more uncomfortable as things progressed. In fact he started backing away. Apparently he didn't agree with Flint, who was insisting that they needed to train their new Seeker <em>right now<em>. Harry observed this with interest. A fist fight actually sounded somewhat cool. But of course, since no one was really trying to head things off, they only got worse.

Ron had been observing the situation just like Harry. But unlike Harry he noticed the smaller details rather than looking at only the big picture. "Hey, those are Nimbus 2001's! You didn't have those last year." Ron scowled his tone holding a bit of jealousy. Those were nice brooms! Expensive too, the very latest model from the Nimbus line. "Where did you get those?" He asked suspiciously. There was no way everyone on that team could afford to get one over the summer. No matter how rich their family was there were very few purebloods who could afford to get one.

"They were a gift from Draco's father." Flint smirked. "To congratulate Draco on making the team he generously donated these." Judging by the look on Draco's face, this was news to him as well as the Gryffindor team. "They're the latest model as I'm sure you are aware. The best on the market in fact, I believe they outmatch the old 2000 model by quite a bit."

Harry snorted. "Yeah right, I doubt that." Harry knew that his broom was the best. And he'd never willingly give it up for anything. The new brooms were shiny and fancy, but they couldn't compare. No broom was as good as or better than his Nimbus 2000. That was his opinion and no fancy new broom was going to change it.

Flint ignored him, or he could really have just not heard. But that didn't matter at the moment. Flint was distracted by Hermione Yugi and Ryou coming over to get a better look at what was going on. Ron and Harry had gone over right away, having had a feeling that the Slytherin's were going to cause a problem. Seto wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. As soon as harry ended the game he had pulled his laptop out of his book bag and begun working on it again. He seemed determined to get it to work again; no matter how many times Hermione explained to him that there was just too much magic at Hogwarts for it to work properly the building itself was literally _infused_ with magic according to Hogwarts a History. Seto was under the impression that there was no obstacle he could not overcome. Apparently this included defying the long standing tradition of muggle technology not working in highly magical areas such as Hogwarts.

"Oh look, a Field invasion." Flint didn't seem too concerned about that.

"Harry what's going on?" Hermione asked. "It looks like there's about to be a brawl." Hermione sincerely hoped that there wasn't a fight. They would all get in a lot of trouble, and the last thing anyone in their group needed this early in the year was a detention.

"Everyone was just admiring our team's new brooms. They were oh so generously donated to us by our new Seeker's father." Flint smirked. "Nice aren't they?" Of course, the three muggle born second years had no real idea of what made a broom nice or not. So they were sort of confused, and due to that they just shrugged in reply. Soon after Flint went back to his argument with Oliver about who would be using the pitch for the rest of the day.

Harry yawned and turned to his fellow second years. "This is getting boring fast, wouldn't you agree?" Harry had become bored with watching the argument and was ready to move on to something more interesting, even if no one else was.

Hermione sweat dropped. "Honestly Harry. . . ."

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for Harry, the two captains continued to argue for another twenty minutes. Before Hermione got irritated enough to intervene. Which really wasn't her best idea ever, but it did help end the fight more quickly. Hermione got between the two teams and glared at both of them with a look that could kill. "You're all being Idiots! If you're going to make such a big deal about all this then just go to the teachers!" She snapped. Hermione was fed up with all the yelling fighting and such. She just wanted the practice to get over with so the group could go back to the sanctuary of the library!<p>

"No one asked for your opinion you Filthy little mudblood!" Flint snapped he was beyond fed up with Gryffindor's at this point. He was ready to attack Wood, but this little Muggleborn-filth had diverted his attention.

The minute he finished his sentence there was an explosion of fury from the Gryffindor's. Suddenly what had started out as a large argument became a small riot! It seemed like every Gryffindor besides Hermione Harry Ryou and Yugi was trying to attack Flint. But of course the Slytherin team jumped to defend their captain. The result was both teams having a violent fist fight. Ron growled and pulled out his wand. "_Eat slugs Flint_!" The jet of light that came from Ron's wand wasn't like their usual spells, it was wilder, untamed, and it wasn't even a spell. It was raw magic! Someone must have cast a shield charm, because there was a flash of blue and the magic rebound on Ron, knocking him back a few feet and onto his back.

"Ron!" Ryou and Yugi ran over to him. Ron groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. He then promptly through up, raw magic obviously didn't agree with him. It was then that they noticed that he hadn't thrown up his breakfast; he had thrown up a _slug_! Apparently that's what Ron had been imagining when he shouted the makeshift spell. But it had backfired big time, rather than Flint being the one lying in the grass and puking up slug after slug, it was Ron. It was a disturbing sight to say the least. The worst part was that Yugi and Ryou had no idea how to help!

Harry had an idea though. He ran over and helped Ron to his feet. "Come on, Ron. I'll take him to Hagrid's. Hagrid will know what to do." He said to the two other second years. "Stay here and fill us in on what happened later." Harry ordered and started helping Ron towards the exit. It wasn't an easy task considering Ron was barfing up slugs every few minutes. But Harry managed.

"This is bad." Yugi jumped a mile in surprise. Seto must have sneaked up on him during the chaos. "These teams have so much cold blood already. Nothing we do is going to stop them." Seto frowned. "Flint had no right to call Hermione that name, but now we have a bigger problem than name calling on our hands." If they didn't stop it there would be bloodshed for sure. But the problem was the people they were supposed to stop were all bigger, stronger, and more experienced with magic then they were. This posed a great obstacle for them. Though Seto couldn't help but notice that Malfoy was gone. He had probably sneaked out while Harry and Ron had everyone distracted.

Ryou frowned as well. "We can't stop them ourselves can we? We could get a teacher." He said, not willing to risk getting in between the two most competitive Quidditch teams that had the most bad blood between them along with being from the two houses at Hogwarts that had a rivalry that boarded on vendetta. It was just too much of a risk for someone like Ryou to be willing to take at this point in time. He hoped that Yugi, Seto, and Hermione understood that.

Hermione sighed. "As much as I would love to, we don't have the kind of time. Once anyone get's down here they'd have gored each other to death!" Hermione hated to admit it, but this was one situation where getting a teacher would be counterproductive. They had to figure this out on their own. No matter just how badly the odds were stacked against them, there had to be something they could to do stop this chaos! Anything! Hermione would use a _Water Gun_ if she thought it would stop them! Unfortunately she had yet to learn any spells that could do her much good in this type of situation. _'Well, unless you count my Blue-bell flames. Which I suppose could be used as a type of flare gun. . . .'_

While Hermione started coming up with a plan, Seto took the direct approach and Yugi decided to play peacekeeper. Their efforts were rewarded with being pulled right into the center of the chaos. And they didn't come out unscratched. Yami seethed with rage. He wanted so much to take control from Yugi and teach those fools a lesson. But he remembered his promise to Yugi over the holidays last year. He wasn't allowed to Yami no game anyone, unless they really, truly deserved it.

In the end, it was Hermione's makeshift Flare gun that ended up saving the day. The pissed off second year throwing jets of blue fire had managed to cause both teams to flee in shock. Apparently no one had ever told them that Blue-bell flames were Hermione's specialty.

**Note!**

**Did I say a few days? I meant _A_ day. XD**

**I'm so excited to write the next chapter! I'm sure you can all guess what's going to happen right?**

**Well either way, I've got to get writing that! I'm so excited! It might even be out later tonight! :D**


	8. Kenkyo Keimusho

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Late that night, as usual the Castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was anything but quiet. Something was always afoot at Hogwarts. Even in the dead of night chaos was brewing. Well, not chaos exactly. More like, vengeance. The students of Gryffindor Tower were fast sleep, no one in the second year dorm was conscious enough to notice the small golden flash that came from behind the drawn curtains of one of the four poster beds.<p>

Yami tossed the covers off of him and pulled back the curtains. He knew that he shouldn't be doing this, really he did. But it _had_ to be done. Yugi would forgive him eventually. He had almost made it to the door of the dorm room when he remembered what he was wearing. He winced. Yugi's pajamas weren't exactly the best attire for what he had planned. They were really light blue-green with yellow stars clustered along the edge of the left pant leg and on the right side of the top. That didn't exactly scream 'intimidating'. Yami sighed and turned around, heading over to Yugi's trunk. He would need to change if he wanted to have the right 'look'. Seto wasn't kidding when he said appearances mattered.

Yami changed into a dark grey long sleeved turtle neck, a sleeveless dark grey vest with black edges, dark blue jeans and black shoes. The Millennium Puzzle and Yugi's studded deck holster completed the outfit. Yami only hoped that this slight detour hadn't ruined his chance to catch his prey. From what he had been able to gather, it would take very precise timing to catch him before he returned to the Slytherin common room and he lost his chance. He cast one last look around the dorm room to be sure no one would wake up and notice him gone. He noticed that there were only four occupied beds when there should have been five. Where was Ryou? He knew Ron was in the hospital wing, probably still puking up slugs. But for sure Ryou should have been in bed. Yami frowned but didn't let it bother him too much. If the need arose, he would sneak past the albino and that would be easy enough.

He exited the room and closed the door gently behind him. Yami descended down the stairs as silently as he could. If he was caught now, the entire operation would fall apart for sure. Once he was out of the common room things would go much more smoothly. But this part, the actually getting _out_ of the common room, this was critical. The silence of the stairway made him anxious of every small tap of his shoes. It seemed as if every small noise would awaken someone and gain unwanted attention. Of course he knew that was completely illogical. Most people would by this time, be too deep into dreamland to hear the soft tap-tap of his footsteps. But he was rather paranoid at the moment. He knew that if Yugi had any idea, that he had gone and done this. The second year wouldn't forgive him for weeks. He wasn't sure if he could take Yugi ignoring him for however long it took him to forgive and forget.

Yami quickly reached the common room, which was barely lit by the dying fire in the hearth. Giving the normally cheery room a slightly creepy look, Yami noticed Ryou asleep in the corner. Yami concluded that Ryou had fallen asleep writing that big essay for History of Magic. That material could put anyone to sleep. Though it was curious that no one had bothered to wake him and tell him that he should be sleeping in his bed, not at a table. He shrugged; it wasn't any of his business really. So he maneuvered through the near total darkness of the common room and managed to make it to the portrait hole without tripping over anything or making enough noise to wake Ryou. Who Yugi had informed him, was a very light sleeper.

Yami gently pushed open the portrait and was somewhat relieved to find that the fat lady was also asleep. He stepped into the corridor and as slowly as he could, closed the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. By some miracle he managed not to wake the woman in the painting. The corridor outside the common room was almost as dark as the room he had just come from. Yami headed down the hall, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls, floor, and ceiling, of the hallway. He winced and forced himself to slow down so that he would make less noise. If he woke up one of the portraits, things could get complicated fast.

Soon Yami had reached the ground floor. He noticed someone coming from the dungeons and smirked, stepping back so that he blended into the shadows. The person coming out from the dungeons was Marcus Flint, who was currently unable to see Yami due to the darkness of the room. Yami chuckled darkly, the sound in itself would normally send shivers down the spine of the bravest man, but add that to the darkness and the somewhat creepy atmosphere of a medieval castle at night. You get a rather terrifying bit of laughter. "Who's there?" Flint demanded.

Yami didn't reply. He just chuckled again. "_The door to Darkness has been opened._" The Millennium Puzzle lit up with golden energy as Yami channeled shadow magic to warp reality and transport Flint and himself to a new place. That place seemed to be the Quidditch pitch. Or a place that looked very much like the Quidditch pitch. Yami snapped his fingers and lights like those in a baseball stadium lit up the field and revealed that it was not what it seemed, and blinding Flint along the way. The sky was navy blue with angry red clouds; and the grass was an unnatural shade of dark green. The banners that usually adorned the stands were not the usual house banners. They were all purple with yellow trim and the golden Millennium eye in the middle. Broomsticks were also sticking out of the ground in odd places all around the pitch, as if planted there like trees.

Flint spent a few minutes looking around in shock. But then he noticed Yami. "Motou, how, what did you do?" He demanded, sounding just a bit panicked. Of course he had a perfectly good reason for this. One minute he was sneaking out to get a snack from the kitchens, the next he was in some insane messed up world with a twisted looking version of the weakest Gryffindor out there! This had to be some kind of nightmare.

Yami smirked. "Marcus Flint you have trespassed upon my soul and insulted my friends. So we're going to play a little game to decide your fate." He motioned to their surroundings. "I believe that, seeing as we are on sports field. We should have a race. Whoever reaches the other side of the pitch first wins? If I win, you have to play a Penalty game." Yami saw that Flint was about to speak, and he already knew what Flint would ask so he cut him off. "If you win, you get this." Yami held up the cord that was no longer around his neck. The Millennium Puzzle swung back and forth from it, the gold gleaming brightly under the bright lights.

Flint smirked. He was confident that he could beat the scrawny Gryffindor in any sort of physical contest. This race would be a piece of cake. That Pendant looked valuable, it was probably worth a lot. "You're on Mudblood!"

Yami didn't seem to see things the same way. He chuckled again. "Very good, that is exactly what I was hoping you would say." Yami tossed the Puzzle and there was another flash of light from it, and it appeared on a table off to the side. He smirked at Flint and pointed to a timer that was where the scoreboard would be on the normal Quidditch field. "Three seconds. Then we race, _Game start!_" The timer started, three seconds later a sound like a car horn went off. The game had truly begun now. They both took off down the field, Yami having a considerable advantage due to the fact that he was smaller, and faster than the sixth year Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Flint growled. He realized now that he didn't exactly have an advantage in this type of game. He then noticed that brooms were littered around the path they were running down. He smirked and grabbed one as he ran past it. Flint pulled the broom from the ground and mounted it. He barely noticed that it was a Nimbus 2001 as he rocketed past Yami and past the finish line. He then turned his broom sharply and raced towards the table where the Puzzle was. "Huh, too bad Mudblood scum looks like I. . . Win?" By the time Flint got there, Yami was already standing there, putting the Puzzle back around his neck.

"Not this time Flint. You see, the game was a race, _on foot_. As I suspected you would, you cheated by using a broom. Meaning, you forfeit the game and I am the winner by default." Yami smirked, his eyes were closed. "You see, this was not an average game as I am sure you are aware. But as you were not aware, this kind of game is called a **Yami No Game**. It has the power to reveal a person's true nature. But that is not what happened here. What happened here was that you revealed that there is no redemption for your soul. In light of this and your recent loss, I shall now inflict upon you a Penalty game. This is a punishment which is only inflicted on those who have wronged without mercy or regret." Yami explained opening his eyes, a third, bright gold eye opened on his forehead as he did this.

"What are you? There's no way your human! Are all Mudblood's like this?" Flint demanded taking a step back in shock. Though his voice held a lot of fear and shock, Yami seemed not to notice any of this as he pointed at Flint a dark grin on his face.

"Your penalty game is thus, for your actions against those not born of magical blood and those without magic. I inflict upon you the **Kenkyo Keimusho **Penalty game!" Yami said coldly as bright gold energy circled Flint. "You may be wondering what this is. The Literal translation of the name from Japanese to English is, 'Humble Prison'. You think you are better than those without magic simply by possessing what they do not. This Penalty game will show you the error of your ways by sealing your magic away inside you. It will still be there, as not even I have the ability to remove it completely. But you will not be able to use it, _ever_! Not until you learn the error of your ways and recognize Muggleborn Students and Muggles as your equals, **Penalty Game**!"

The world exploded into energy and light as Yami inflicted the punishment unto the Slytherin, the waves of invisible magical energy traveled all over the world. Many people felt the surge of magical energy. But only a few of them knew what the energy was, and what it meant. When the light cleared, Flint was unconscious on the normal Quidditch Pitch with his Nimbus 2001 laying next to him. He was alone. There were no signs of anyone else ever being there.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later another person walked up to the pitch, his white hair blowing in a cold breeze as he walked over to Flint. He was wearing black jeans and a black coat with the collar popped up. He looked down at Flint and kicked the unconscious teen in the side. When he got no response he frowned.<p>

"How disappointing, someone else got to him first." Bakura sighed. Of course there was only one other person at Hogwarts whom it could have been. There weren't many people there whom could control Shadow Magic. "The Pharaoh certainly has style though." He commented using the powers of the ring to see what type of magic had been inflicted upon Flint. "I would never have thought of doing such a thing. But of course, His 'Royal Highness' must get a kick out of poetic justice. Rather like my own knack for eternal torment." Bakura smirked and turned around.

_'Soon we will meet once again Pharaoh, and I look forward to that day.'_ Bakura snickered as he headed back to the school. _'For that will be the day our war begins again, and the day that will set off the chain of events that leads up to your defeat, the events that will lead up to the day my revenge is finally complete!_'

Bakura's dark laughter echoed around the grounds of Hogwarts.

**Note!**

**Okay so this took way longer to get out then I wanted it too. But I hope you enjoy it!**

**This is the first Shadow game of the new school year!**

**. . .. As well as the only full Shadow game I've ever written XD**

**So drop me a review and tell me what ya thought!**


	9. A Pointless Meeting

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>When Flint was found the next morning, and after a few hours of questioning, he was promptly transferred to the mental ward at St. Mungo's, the nearest Wizard World Hospital. No one knew what had happened or why, but they did know that Marcus Flint would not be returning to school any time soon. The student body of Hogwarts had decided amongst itself that the cause for Flint's departure was that he had gone out for a early morning fly, and had fallen off his broom, possibly crashed into a goal post as well. Thus explaining why he was dismissed from the school for a mental illness of some sort. To Yami's relief this was a completely logical explanation and Yugi had no idea that it had actually been his fault that Flint was now thought to be insane.<p>

Despite the fact that the Slytherin Quidditch Captain had been sent to a mental ward, the school quickly returned to normal. Or as Normal as Hogwarts could ever get. In Defense against the Dark Arts, a few weeks into the month of October Lockhart had started calling on volunteers to act out some of the scenes from his book. His favorite student for this activity happened to be Harry. By the third week Harry was convinced Lockhart hated him for some reason. "There's no other way to explain why he keeps humiliating me!" Harry groaned as the Gryffindor members of their group headed to the library to meet up with Seto.

"For once, I agree with you Harry." Hermione sighed. After that first lesson she had begun to doubt Professor Lockhart. It was a huge mistake on Professor Lockhart's part to bring creatures that he couldn't control into their class. One of the older year's maybe, but second years such as themselves? That could have ended much worse than it had. It was very lucky that she had researched immobilization spells in her free time over the summer. As of right now she had to agree with Harry, Lockhart had no other logical reason for always signaling out Harry to perform in his humiliating demonstrations. At least they didn't share that class with the Slytherin's.

"Hate is a bit of a strong word isn't it?" Yugi asked frowning. "I hardly think that Lockhart _hates_ Harry." He added as they entered the library and headed for 'their' table. Hate was too strong of a word to use when talking about the pompous defense professor in his opinion. Lockhart was a lot of things, but he wasn't hateful.

Seto raised an eyebrow looking up from the many pieces of his laptop which he was slowly putting back together after having mercilessly ripped it apart a few weeks earlier to study its circuitry and inner workings. "Isn't _Snape_ the one that hates Harry?" Seto had only caught what Yugi had said but he was pretty sure he knew what they were talking about. Thankfully it wasn't as hard to follow the flow of conversation among his Gryffindor friends as it was to try and figure out how Pegasus's mind worked. Seto was still trying to figure out what had happened at the Intercontinental championships during the summer.

"I think Lockhart is jealous of Harry." Neville spoke up. This surprised Yugi a bit. Neville didn't really speak his mind. But then again, they were probably rubbing off on him. Which was a good thing, he hoped. "It's kind of obvious that he would be after all." Neville added. "Harry is more famous than him, without even trying. Lockhart might be envious of that because he's had to work so hard to get where he is. . ." Neville made a lot of sense. But that was normal; Neville was quickly becoming the voice of common sense in their group. Ryou was slowly being corrupted by Harry, and Seto was too busy with his current project and the flood of daily mail and work to do the job full time. Neville was really the only option at this point.

"You're probably right Neville." Ryou mused pulling out his unfinished potions essay. It was due tomorrow so he had to work extra hard on it today. "Lockhart dose seem like the jealous type." Ryou didn't like the new professor at all. He was self absorbed; his books were obviously fiction rather than fact. Ryou had found this out by reading them all and noticing that some dates overlapped. He hoped that Hermione would notice this soon as well, though he was a bit puzzled at why she hadn't noticed it by now. How many times had she been seen reading those books? Perhaps she just didn't want to believe it. . .

Ron yawned. "Can we not talk about Block-Hart right now? I'd rather play a game of chess or something." But, Ron knew that even if he played a game, the only person in the school who could give him a challenge was too caught up with his weird muggle technology to play. Hopefully once Seto get's that lap-chop or whatever it's called to work he'll have more free time. Winning _did_ get boring sometimes. Even for someone like him who loved to win at anything.

"Sorry Ron, but Ryou's going to teach me how to read the future with my deck." Harry grinned holding up the deck of duel monster cards he had received for Christmas last year. He rarely dueled, finding Quidditch to be more fun. But he was somewhat interested in how Ryou always came up with such accurate predictions when he predicted the future with his own occult dueling deck. "Oh wait! We could duel first though if you wanted?" Harry suggested. He knew Ron had dueled Neville a lot over the summer and he hadn't dueled in months but really, since when did that matter in a friendly duel? "I mean. Ryou needs to finish his essay anyway so we have plenty of time!"

Ron grinned. "Alright, let's duel!" Ron pulled his deck from his book bag. They set up the duel mats and drew five cards each.

Yugi watched interestedly. "Oh, Hermione would you like to duel?" It had been a while since they dueled. And really, he didn't have anything better to do. Neville had vanished to the Herbology section of the library and Ryou was reading a book on Monster world Strategies. He didn't even consider Seto, the Slytherin was way too focused on the task before him, he probably wouldn't even notice if Harry hit him over the head with a Lockhart book.

"Sorry Yugi, I have other plans." Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Malfoy demanded another rematch. Even though we always get interrupted before one of us can win. . . I have to get going or I'm going to be late. See you all later." She waved and left before anyone could try and convince her to stay.

Yugi sweat dropped. "So, I'll play the winner?" He asked Ron and Harry. Who nodded in agreement before going off into that odd, dethatched-from-reality-nothing-but-this-duel-matters, trance that duelist so often went into without realizing it.

Seto rolled his eyes. Yugi never lost, it was amazing that Ron and Harry hadn't given up trying to beat him and his 'heart of the card's'. Which Seto was still certain did not exist in any way. Yugi had skill, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. So he preached about a fictional force that never let down a duelist whom was loyal to their deck. That was the logical reason for the Heart of the Cards. That was the logical reason why Yugi won ever duel, and why the shorter duelist hadn't changed his deck once in the two years he had known him.

**Note!**

**Well, This took forever. I got hit with writers block at the worst possible time.**

**But don't worry! The next chapter is already in progress and will hopefully be out soon!**


	10. Aurors and Outlaws: It Begins

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Halloween was coming up in a few days. By that time Professor Flitwick had managed to reverse the messed up charm spell and return every ones hair back to normal. Well except for Hermione and Daphne Greengrass who had opted to keep their new looks. Aside from that, nothing else of interest had happened lately.<p>

At least until today, today was a Saturday, a Saturday that would not be forgotten for a long time. Teachers and students alike would remember it as pure and uncontrolled chaos. You see, Madame Pince was reordering the library today, so she had banned anyone from going in or going out. Meaning the group had been forced outside to find a quiet place to meet and duel.

That place happened to be under a nice cluster of trees by the lake. The orange, yellow and brown leaves coasted to the ground from the trees and danced in the wind as it blew them around the little area. The sun shone brightly that day and the weather were perfect for playing.

There was a game of Aurors and Outlaws going on right now in fact. Harry Ron and Ryou against Hermione Neville and Yugi, Seto was still busy with his laptop and had a large file of work to do in this backpack, so he had opted not to join. They'd have had uneven teams anyway. Whoever had him would have and unfair advantage. It was a shame that they didn't have a sixth member of their group who could have evened out the teams. Seto was becoming a workaholic and no one wanted that. Harry would have asked Ginny and Luna to join, but he had seen them drag Colin off to duel hours ago.

Harry ducked behind a tree as Yugi came into sight. Hopefully Yugi hadn't seen him yet, if he had then Harry knew he was sunk. Yugi had good reflexes, and would probably sneak up on him while he was distracted by something. Or maybe Yugi wanted Harry to see him so that Harry would be distracted by Yugi and not notice a sneak attack. You really couldn't predict these kinds of things when Hermione was in charge of a team. Hermione was almost as brilliant as Ron when it came to strategies.

Thankfully Harry didn't let down his guard, and was able to get out of the way when Neville tried to take him by surprise a few moments later. But what he hadn't been expecting was for Yugi and Neville to corner him at the edge of the lake. His options were either dive in, or surrender. Evaluating his options harry surrendered gracefully. He'd come up with a new plan with Ryou once he was inside enemy territory. He hoped Ron would be able to get them out before they had to do anything drastic though.

Ryou was waiting patiently by the tree that was Hermione's team prison. He knew that Harry or Ron would come get him out. But they were running out of time. If Neville or Yugi caught one or both of them before they could spring him. They would have a problem. Hermione was currently watching him with the intensity of a hawk. There was no way he was going to get away with her watching him. That was the thing about Hermione; she was quick to cast spells, and quick to react. If he even moved and inch out of the invisible line she had set up for her teams prison, he'd simply be captured again.

Ron was pacing uncertainly. He had sent Harry out to get back Ryou, but it was taking longer than it should have. Had Harry been captured too? Ron hoped not. He didn't exactly stand much of a chance against Hermione's entire team. Ron looked over and saw Dean and Seamus. He suddenly got an idea. No one had ever said anything about there being a rule against recruiting more members to your team. "Hey Dean, Seamus, Get over here I need your help with something!" Ron called waving the two other Gryffindor second years over to him.

The other boys shared a curious look before jogging over. "What's up Ron?" Dean asked curiously. Ron rarely spoke to either of them, since he was usually hanging out with Harry. But this must be important, or at the very least interesting if Ron needed their help.

Ron grinned. "I'm in a bit of a bind here in the game we're playing. Like I said, I could use some help." Ron hoped they agreed to help him; he'd rather not have to launch a one man assault on Hermione's base. That would probably end with him being humiliated in some way. He was smart, and knew his way around a chess game, but really. Hermione was just better at thinking on her feet. He couldn't beat that.

"What's the game?" Seamus asked mildly interested. He supposed anything was better than walking around and doing nothing like he and Dean had been doing moments before.

"It's one that Ryou and Harry made up over the summer. It's called Aurors and Outlaws." Ron said knowing that he now had their full attention. "The rules are really simple." Ron said before launching into a quick explanation of the rules and what he needed them to do.

The two other Gryffindor students shared a look and slowly broke out into twin grins. They turned back to Ron. "We're in."

* * *

><p>Hermione was furious. Ron had invaded her camp, and freed the prisoners. He even managed to capture Neville, all because he had found a way to recruit new members to his team. She was furious that she hadn't thought of it first. "Yugi, we need to do some recruiting." She said turning to her shorter teammate. Ron was not going to win this. She was sure that she could beat him if she just evened out the score a bit.<p>

Yugi nodded in agreement. "Do you have anyone specific in mind? Are we going to take the game into the castle?" Up until now the game had taken place by the lake in their somewhat out of the way area. Yugi wasn't sure what would happen if they took the game into the maze like halls of Hogwarts.

She nodded grimly. "We're going to have to. Ron won't be expecting it. So we'll have a light advantage. But we'll have to act fast and gather our new recruits as quickly as we can. Yugi, this little battle is about to turn into a war." Hermione stated as she turned and started sprinting towards the castle, with Yugi trying his best to keep up.

There was no way either of them could have known that they had been overheard.

Seto Kaiba smirked, the gears inside his head already turning at a rapid rate. He had packed up his computer quite some time ago and eaves dropped on both teams. From what he could tell, now was the perfect opportunity to join in and take everyone by surprise. But first he would need a team. He already had some people in mind. But it was all a matter of getting to them before Hermione or Ron's teams did. Seto headed towards the castle, forming a plan as he went.

**Note!**

**Apparently 'soon' means in a couple hours XD **

**Well hope you enjoy the chain of events that have just been set off!**

**Drop me a review if it's not too much trouble, I do so enjoy hearing what you think~**


	11. Aurors and Outlaws: Recruiting

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Seto hadn't exactly known where they would be, but he did have a good guess. As it turned out, his guess had been a hundred percent correct. Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood had been found with Colin Creevey in one of the unused classrooms. They were teaching Colin how to duel. As much as Seto would rather not interrupt, he knew that Ginny and Luna were the last two people in the school that he wouldn't have to explain the game too. Plus, after seeing those two work together in previous games over the summer, Seto knew it was a good idea to have the two younger girls working with him rather than against him. He stepped into the room with the air of a businessman with a proposition that you would regret not hearing.<p>

The three first years looked up from their game in surprise. They hadn't been expecting anyone to interrupt them. They had originally been planning to hold their lesson in the library, but since that was off limits today they had set up in an empty classroom. For a second year Slytherin to just walk in, it was the last thing they would have expected.

"I need to talk to you two." Seto said to the two first year girls. "There's a game going on. The teams are growing because the others telling more people about it. I want to crash it. Care to join me?" Seto was blunt and to the point. This was not his most tactful strategy but Seto was not going to dance around the subject when what he wanted was really quite simple.

The two girls shared a look. "What's in it for us?" Ginny asked trying to mirror Seto's Business like tone of voice. "Why should _we_ help _you_?" She clarified just in case he hadn't understood. Seto wasn't as dense as her brother but she couldn't be sure if he had fully understood her or not. Ron didn't know this, but she had almost been sorted into Slytherin. Ginny was more cunning then any of her brothers, of course they knew this because she always beat them whenever they played anything other than chess. Ginny wanted to know what Seto had to offer them in return for their aid in what sounded like the start of a war, Aurors and Outlaws Style.

Seto was silent for a moment. He was somewhat impressed that Ginny was even asking. Most girls her age wouldn't think to get something out of working with him. But then again Ginny wasn't your average eleven year old girl. He had to think quickly or they'd lose interest. What would they be interested in that he could offer them? It hit him like lightning. He smirked. "Here's why you should help me. I can offer you one I owe you each. One free favor, no questions asked." Seto was quiet proud of himself for thinking of this. "But, if we win the game. I'll make it two favors." He added they'd need some initiative not to betray him later. He knew that the two girls could be rather self serving once the game really got going.

Ginny looked thoughtful. "Give us a moment to think about it." She ordered and pulled Colin and Luna off to the side. Seto couldn't hear them anymore, but he was sure that Ginny was apologizing to Colin and explaining the game to him while evaluating her options with Luna. Once Colin knew what the game was he just grinned and said something to the girls that Seto didn't catch and left excitedly. After a few more moments of hushed discussion they turned around and walked back over to him.

They were both grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Tell us where Ron hides his leftover sugar, and you've got a deal." Luna said in her usual dreamy tone of voice as Ginny held out her hand for him to shake.

Seto smirked and shook the younger Gryffindor's hand. "Deal," Seto was mildly impressed, these two might make good employees for Kaiba corp. if they were ever interested that is. Even at this age they had the makings of potential businesswomen.

* * *

><p>Seto had sent Ginny and Luna off to capture Ron's team; he knew that any team with Ryou and Harry on it was bound to have a drastic advantage over the others. The thing that made the team more dangerous was that Ron was a great strategist. It came from being a chess player. Unless they took out that team first, they would have too much competition to handle. Though the other teams had more members at the moment, that was about to change. Seto had been searching for them for a while, but he had finally found the two other Second years Slytherin's who would be willing to work with him. Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass, despite both being purebloods were the most likely to ally with him and he needed every advantage he could get.<p>

They had been more difficult to sway to his side the Ginny and Luna. They had only joined once he had grudgingly agreed to let them drag him into Wizard World Politics. Apparently they saw him as a Politian in the future. Seto managed to get them to agree to let him drag them into the Muggle world of business in return. He then sent them off to disrupt Hermione's team; around the same time he got word that Padma Patil had started her own team upon learning of the game from her twin.

But she wasn't the only one to start a new team. Word of the game was spreading through the first and second year students of Hogwarts like wildfire. The game was indeed turning into a small scale war as Hogwarts students from every house picked their side and formed teams. It seemed everyone was interested in joining the new and interesting game that had been introduced to them by accident. Seto knew this would complicate things greatly, but he did so enjoy a challenge. So he wasn't too concerned.

All that mattered at this point was winning, and he _would_ win. No matter what the other teams tried, they couldn't beat him. Seto was sure of this. But if by some miracle he was beaten, he'd acknowledge that he had made some sort of mistake and strive to not make it again. Seto snickered softly; this game was going to quickly turn into a war, a war the likes of which Hogwarts has never seen before.

It was going to be interesting to say the least. With that thought, Seto set off to disable the team that Padma had put together.

* * *

><p>Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were almost given a heart attack when Hermione popped out in front of them from behind a tree. She was wearing a dark grey shirt and black cargo pants rather than her school uniform and her hair was up in a rather frizzy ponytail. She looked around as if they would be attacked any moment. "So glad I found you girls, I need to call in that favor you owe me." She sounded serious. Whatever she had in mind must be important. Though it was sort of strange how Hermione kept looking around as if waiting for something to appear. What was going on?<p>

Lavender sighed. They owed Hermione after she helped them get ready for their exams last minute the previous year. They had completely forgotten to study and it was only thanks to Hermione that they passed their exams and made it into their second year. They had told her they owed her a favor, Lavender had hoped that Hermione would forget about it before they saw each other again. The bookworm was sort of annoying with her know-it-all attitude and it was weird how she hung out with only boys and one of them was a Slytherin no less! But Lavender knew that Parvati would never let her go back on her word. "Alright, what do you have in mind?"

"The boys and I are playing a little game." Hermione said stepping out fully from behind the tree and leaning against it. "It's called Aurors and Outlaws. My team, Yugi Neville and myself, are the Aurors. But you see, the enemy team, Ron's team, recruited Dean and Seamus. So they now have an advantage. I'd like you two to join my team and even out the playing field. You owe me a favor, and this is it. I can assure you that it is far more enjoyable then me asking you to cover for me for something." Hermione explained all in one breathe. She then ducked behind the tree again as Seto strode past.

Parvati looked thoughtful. "Well that sounds reasonable. How do you play? And why are you hiding from Kaiba? Is he on Ron's team too?" She asked. Parvati wasn't sure how this would turn out, but it sounded like a lot of fun either way. Plus, any game that could get Hermione away from her books for any amount of time had to be absolutely genius! Everyone knew how obsessed Hermione was with learning. But from what she was seeing, Hermione was taking the game way too seriously.

Hermione smirked. "Playing is easy. Winning is the hard part." Hermione launched into an explanation of the game, how it was played, who created it, all the rules, how the teams worked. Hermione basically told Lavender and Parvati everything they would never need to know about playing Aurors and Outlaws.

Lavender grinned once she was done. This sounded like it would be a blast! "Well Hermione, you've got yourself two new team members!" This was game sounded like it was definitely something to take seriously.

Hermione laughed. "I knew you'd say that! Come on, follow me back to our temporary base, we've got a lot of planning to do!" Hermione grabbed each of them by the arm and dragged them away. She ended up dragging them into a small close together grove a trees where Yugi and Neville were waiting. "We've got a lot of planning to do! Any idea's where to start?" Hermione asked ready to take suggestions and not wanting to waste any time. Ron was probably already planning something.

Yugi looked thoughtful. He looked off to the side as if listening to someone else speaking. "Well, we could set traps at some of the more obvious places. Or find out where the other teams are stationed and launch a full out assault on the one that's the biggest threat?" He suggested displaying a startling ability to strategize. Although Hermione and Neville both knew that most of the suggestion came from Yami the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

**Note!**

**Well, this is the start of a really fun part of the story.**

**I'm going to be honest here. Yes. This is filler. But I've been waiting to write this situation forever! Since I first created the game actually.**

**And there will be details in these chapters that advance the plot. But mostly, I'm doing this part just for fun.**

**So just sit back and laugh at the mostly Filler!**


	12. Aurors and Outlaws: War or Game?

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Harry leaned against the door of the classroom that Ryou, Ron and he had claimed as their team headquarters and prison. Once they had gotten word that somehow news of the game was spreading all throughout Hogwarts, they set up a base inside the castle. Ron was briefing Ryou on their mission. Dean and Seamus had been sent out to do something Harry hadn't been told what, but it was probably a good thing Ron was in charge. He seemed to know what he was doing for the most part. Harry had managed to convince Colin to join their team, which was a good thing because Colin had a lot of energy. Though he was more inclined to listen to Harry then to Ron, Harry had managed to get Ron to allow Colin to be a guard so that Ron couldn't be attacked when he was alone at the base.<p>

They had been attacked by multiple other teams, which Harry hadn't been aware were even part of the game before then. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones had apparently teamed up with Padma Patil, Terry Boot and Megan Jones. They were a pretty good team, but they wouldn't last very long. Colin had told them that Seto had recruited Ginny and Luna. Seto was technically a genius, combine that with Ginny's unique and terrifying brand of thinking that came from living with the twins. Plus Luna's surprisingly mischievous out of the box thinking, you get one thing, Trouble and lots of it. There were also two other Slytherin second years on Seto's team. But Harry didn't know anything about them.

Harry would have gone on thinking, but at that moment Dean and Seamus sprinted around the corner as if they were being chased by Fluffy the Cerberus. They ran into the room and slammed the door as if that would protect them. Harry raised an eyebrow and turned towards the corner dropping low to the ground so that any shots thrown from someone just coming around it would go over his head. His eyes widened behind his glasses in shock when he saw what his teammates had been running from. The Weasley twins, how they had gotten involved Harry had no idea, but he knew he was in for it if he didn't act quickly. They had already noticed he but they couldn't redirect their shots fast enough and as he had predicted they went over his head.

He rolled to the side as they tried to stun him; they were unsuccessful because he had been expecting it. "Nice try but no dice, Rope Trick!" Harry shouted jumping back to his feet and using both hands to mimic a gun his wand positioned between them. He gasped and flattened himself against the wall in time to avoid a shot from Fred. They had avoided his Rope Trick by splitting apart rather than standing side by side. They were closing in on him quick he didn't see an immediate way of escape but then again, not everything was as obvious as running. They had him cornered now, one on each side when he got a brilliant idea. Just as they fired their stunners, he ducked. So instead of hitting him they hit each other.

Of course they weren't actual stunners, but they were now using sparks to show where the spells were going. Red sparks for a stunner and gold sparks for a Rope Trick. It was easier then imagining the spells at any rate. Of course it wasn't Harry who had come up with that, he was sure that it was Hermione's idea though. Harry grinned. "You cowards can come out now!" He called back at the door. "We've captured the Weasley twins!" This was definitely an accomplishment worth bragging about later.

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><p>Hermione smirked and whistled shrilly. Something that Mokuba had taught her over the summer. She then jumped down from her perch in a tree. She landed right in front of Susan and Hannah. The whistle was the signal that Yugi had been waiting for. Neville was off with Parvati and Lavender tracking down Terry, Megan and Padma. The other girls had no time to react as they were showered from both sides with bright gold sparks. There had been no way for them to escape, even if they had been able to see the attack coming. "Alright Yugi let's get these two back to our base." Hermione ordered quickly. "We need to get out of the open before we're spotted by another team." Hermione was playing to win, and they obviously couldn't win if their team got captured.<p>

Susan had been surprised when another team dropped down from the trees and captured them. But looking at it from another perspective, it was a brilliant idea. Something no one would expect, of course it had to be Hermione who would think of it. Hermione was no doubt the smartest person in their entire year, possibly in the whole school. The only person who could even give the Gryffindor know-it-all competition was Seto Kaiba. "How did you even get up there? Were you just waiting for someone to walk by?" Susan asked interestedly. Just because they were captured didn't mean they had to act like prisoners rather than friends. Susan had spoken to Hermione a few times last year and wasn't as thrown off by Hermione's knowledge as most people.

Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Actually we were. I had deduced that this was the most frequently used path to and from the castle. And I just assumed that at some point or other someone would come along and we could capture them. Good thing I was right." She laughed leading the group towards the boathouse where her team had set up a more permanent base. The boathouse was, you would assume, too out of the way. But it was actually rather close to the school. Hermione had specifically chosen the boat house because it would be easier to protect then a classroom where they'd be cornered if someone blocked the door or an open area with too many entrances to guard.

"How she got up there, is a secret." Yugi joked. The trees hadn't had any lower branches for Hermione to climb up on, so not even Yugi knew how Hermione had managed it. She refused to tell him. Yugi personally thought that she was just keeping it a secret to tease him. He'd asked Yami, but not even the ever observant Spirit of the Puzzle had seen Hermione get up in the tree. So it seemed that it would remain a mystery until Hermione decided to tell them. "So . . . you two know anything about the other teams? We're a little short on information." He said sheepishly once they got there.

Hannah looked thoughtful, as if she wasn't sure whether or not she should be telling them this. "Well, I do know that Justin, Ernie, Zacharias, and Wayne started a team. Their stationed somewhere near the kitchens. And no too long ago we were attacked by Kevin Entwhistle, Anthony Goldstein, Lisa Turpin and Michel Connor, from Ravenclaw." Hannah said. "It seems that people are making teams from other students in their own years or houses." She added helpfully. She was mostly explaining things to waste time. Surely the two minutes were almost up right? Any second now Susan and she could try to escape. Of course Hermione wasn't going to make that easy, but that was part of the fun!

* * *

><p>Ginny knocked the old desk onto its side, spraying dust everywhere. She and Luna ducked down so the red sparks bounced off the desk rather than hitting them. Padma, Terry, and Megan had somehow managed to get the two of them cornered in this classroom. They didn't have an escape route and they were fairly sure that capture was inevitable, unless they figured something out in the next few seconds of course. Luna then noticed that there were only two people trying to hit him. Where had Megan gone?<p>

Megan had noticed something on the ground, it looked like it had been thrown in the room and left there. She went over and picked it up. She hadn't even noticed that she was behind Luna and Ginny now. It was her dairy! How in the world had it gotten here? She pocketed the Dairy. Red sparks flying past her pulled her back into reality. She noticed her surroundings and decided to take advantage of it. But Ginny spun around in time to shoot red sparks at Megan before she could hit them with gold ones.

The move gave her teammate an idea it seemed. Luna spun around creating a wide sweeping arc of sparks that Padma and Terry couldn't avoid. Instead of capturing them Ginny decided to get out of there before anyone else turned up and dragged Luna from the room.

"That was close." Luna said as soon as they were a safe distance away. "We had better be more careful about who we attack." The blond wasn't as spacey as people seemed to think. She was very observant and noticed things about people that most others didn't. Of course she was more of a follower while Ginny seemed to be a born leader. They were two very different girls with a conflicting variety of interest and abilities. But they made a team that could rival Ryou and Harry on a good day.

Ginny nodded in agreement. "Not a good idea to attack big groups unless we know we have the upper hand for sure." Ginny didn't want a repeat of what had just happened. If Luna hadn't been there they would have been captured for sure. Seto would have come and rescued them if they couldn't escape but it would be embarrassing, to have to be rescued by your team captain when you were perfectly capable of escaping on your own. "Perhaps attacking a team almost entirely made up of Ravenclaws is a bad idea. They have the advantage of brains and a whole year more than we do of knowledge." Yes, that was their mistake. They wouldn't make it again Ginny decided.

Luna thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes that sounds reasonable. Let's go see if we can find a smaller group to capture." Luna said leading the way down a corridor. "I'm sure we won't fail this time." Really, it was all a matter of not getting cornered again. They let their opponents dictate the terms of the fight. They had reacted by fleeing to a classroom, instead of _acting_ and taking the fight to a more open area with more escape routes. Luna was sure that they could have beaten Padma's team sooner _and_ have managed to capture them if they had done things differently.

Ginny grinned. "Good idea. Hopefully Seto has more luck then we did." Ginny didn't have a clue which of them would be in charge of their team if Seto got captured. The problem was, those two other Slytherin's, Nott and Greengrass didn't seem like the type to take orders from her, even if she was the most likely to end up in command in the case that Seto was unavailable. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though.

* * *

><p>It was times like this that made Seto wish he had two wands. He had two Hufflepuff's on each side, blocking either was down the corridor, and they were quickly backing him up against an open window. Well, he <em>was<em> on the first floor . . . but that was a last resort he decided not to risk it just yet. Seto ducked to the ground as another stunner went over his head; he barely had time to roll out of the way as a Rope Trick came at him. Thinking fast he spun on his side and kicked Ernie McMillan's feet out from under him. Seto managed to get to his feet fast enough to stun Zacharias Smith and avoided a stunner from Justin Finch-Fletchly by barely an inch.

Wayne Hopkins and Justin were closing in fast. He didn't have much time. They had him at point blank range and were backing him against the window again. It was do or 'die' time. Seto stepped back and somehow managed to step onto the window ledge while waking backwards. There was a small drop. But nothing too bad, still, it was a good thing he wasn't afraid of heights or anything. He'd have to move quickly once he reached the ground, they'd have the advantage of 'Arial' attacks once he was down there. But he'd rather take that risk then get captured like a scared little mouse cornered by a predator. He was going to go out with a bang, if they managed to catch him that is.

"It's over Kaiba." Wayne said. "We've for you cornered and there's no way for you to escape. Come quietly and there won't be a problem." He didn't want Kaiba to try anything. Even for a Slytherin, Seto Kaiba was sneaky and dangerous. They had been trying to capture him for over half an hour. They were lucky that they had even been able to keep track of him. Who would have guessed that the Muggleborn Slytherin would be the most dangerous?

Seto chuckled. "I guess this is where I say something dramatic like 'You'll never take me alive!' But that's not how I work." Seto stepped backwards so that he was standing on the very edge of the window. He was lucky that it was tall enough that he didn't have to lean down or something to get through it. "But I will say this. Better luck next time!" Seto smirked turned and jumped out of the window. He landed in a crouch and didn't waste any time in getting back to his feet. He side stepped a double shower of red sparks and ran along the wall where they couldn't aim at him. He only had to stay hidden until he was out of their range. That wouldn't be much of a problem seeing as they had no idea where he was going this time. Seto wasn't going to make it obvious either; he couldn't afford to be caught so 'early' in the game.

He hadn't known that a team of Hufflepuff's would be so hard to take on. Though he should have suspected, teamwork was one of Hufflepuff's biggest ideals from what he had heard from Ryou. Ryou spent a lot of time with those Hufflepuff girls Bones and Abbott. But that was proving to be a good thing, as Ryou had no problem relaying information to them. So he had learned a lot about how the other houses worked. Slytherin was rather different from either of them, it seemed like every house had its own way of doing things. Each of the four houses contributed a key part to Hogwarts life, but if you looked at each house individually, you'd see just how segregated they really are. Seto shook his head. Now was not the time to be debating the good and the bad of each house. Now was the time for action.

* * *

><p>Draco Malfoy had almost no idea what was going on. If Hermione hadn't explained the game to him during one of their duels the previous week he would have been utterly confused about the game that had taken Hogwarts by storm. He was currently back to back with Tracy Davis fighting off a team composed' of students from every house. Fay Dunbar and Lily Moon two first year Gryffindor's, Leanne Johnson, a Hufflepuff, Morag MacDougal from Ravenclaw, and Candace Jackson a Slytherin all second years. Tracy was only helping him because she had been the one to explain to him what was going on. She didn't have to stick around, but it seemed that she had decided to stick with Draco for a while.<p>

Draco had never really paid attention to Tracy before now. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes. She was almost taller than him, but appearances weren't important right now. What was important was getting out of this situation without getting captured. Draco was sure that it wasn't at all dignified for a Malfoy to be captured. Not that he cared; he could most likely escape, with or without Tracy's help. He side stepped a stunner from Fay and shot a stunner at Lily. He would have hit her too, is Leanne hadn't pulled her out of the way.

From nowhere red sparks rapidly showered each girl. The air wavered as if a curtain was being pulled and suddenly Harry Potter was standing behind them. "You guys looked like you could use some help." Harry laughed casting gold sparks on the team of girls. "And now I've captured an entire team! A perfect win, win situation really." This was great, now Tracy and Draco would owe him for saving them and Hermione would be pleased that he had managed to take out an entire team, even if he hadn't have been able to do so without Tracy and Draco distracting them.

"Thanks for the save Potter." Tracy said looking around in case another team happened upon them by chance. "I didn't know you had an Invisibility Cloak." Those were rare, how did someone like Harry get a hold of one? Unless he found it in one of his vaults or it was given to him in his parents will. But still, for it to be given to him at this age? An Invisibility Cloak seemed like a rather stupid gift to give to a Gryffindor second year. But that was just one pureblood girls opinion. Plus, considering Harry had just saved them with it, she wasn't really in a position to complain.

Draco raised an eyebrow at the Cloak. "I don't think anyone did. Though it would explain how he got into and out of so much trouble last year." Harry Potter was quickly becoming a well known trouble maker at Hogwarts; of course, Draco had grown up with stories of his Father's years at school. So he knew all about James Potter and his gang of Gryffindor friends who called themselves the 'Marauders'. Suddenly Harry froze and looked around as if hearing something. "What are you doing now?"

"Don't you hear it?" Harry asked them looking slightly panicked. "I swear there's something in the walls! It's really freaking me out-It's getting away! I've got to follow it, sorry for saving and ditching but since you can't hear it. . ." Harry shrugged and vanished under his Cloak. If he was the only one that could hear the creepy voice in the walls talking about killing, then he'd probably need to ask Seto to set him up an appointment with a psychologist.

Tracy and Draco shared a 'What the heck?' Look. Had Harry Potter gone insane over the summer? Or were all Gryffindor's that odd? Either way, they couldn't afford to stay in one place for too long. So they headed down the corridor and silently decided that they would never understand Gryffindor's, _especially_ if that Gryffindor happened to be Harry Potter.

**Note!**

**Due to this chapter being so long and containing a lot of action. The next chapter may take longer then usual to produce.**

**But boy did I have fun writing this!**

**Tell me what'cha thought kay?**


	13. Aurors and Outlaws: It Ends

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Harry had heard a voice coming from the walls only moments ago. It was probably a bad thing that Tracy and Draco hadn't been able to hear it but really, maybe they were just hard of hearing or something? He was sure that he had heard it and when he heard it again, this time further away. He had the feeling that he had to follow it for some reason.<em> <strong>"Come… come to me… Let me rip you...Let me tear you...Let me kill you…"<strong>_ Whatever it was it spoke again. Its voice sounded as though it was hissing out every word. It also sounded rather bloodthirsty; it was then that his brain actually processed what the whatever-it-is in the walls had said.

Harry skid to a halt and almost tripped over the cloak. "Whoa hold on a minute. _Kill _me!" Then again, the thing might not even be talking to him. But still, following voices no one else can hear that speak only of killing something or someone was probably not his brightest idea. Harry heard the sound of footsteps closing in on his location and realized he had shouted. Someone from another team must have heard him, and due to him being one of the two creators of the game, he was rather high on the 'Capture at all costs' list of enemy teams.

It was a good thing he had the cloak or he'd have been seen and there would have been and epic fight rather than the team just running past him because they couldn't see him. At least he now had more time to follow that voice. Of course he had a nagging suspicion that if he continued to follow it something bad would happen. What was that thing called again? Oh right, common sense. At this point Harry wasn't very familiar with it. But Ryou was. Too bad Ryou wasn't with him now though.

The good thing is that Harry didn't get a chance to try and track down the thing in the walls again. Because at that moment Lisa Turpin and Michel Connor came running around the corner and crashed into him, sending all three of them to the ground and throwing the cloak off of him. "Hey watch where you're going next time!" Harry snapped. Seeing as this wasn't the first time that someone had knocked him over today he was a little mad, because getting knocked down got really annoying fast.

Lisa sweat dropped. "Sorry Harry, we'd love to stay and fight. But there's a pack of puffs on our tail and we don't stand a chance!"Lisa was helped back to her feet by Michel. They had been running from the Hufflepuff boy's team for a long time. It was a good thing they had found Harry, or they might never have gotten them off their tail. Though they were a bit guilty about making Harry their distraction, but really, all's fair in love and war right?

And with that they ran off before Harry could ask what they meant. Seconds later Ernie McMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchly, Zacharias Smith and Wayne Hopkins came running around the same corner as Lisa and Michel. It was then that Harry was forced to abandon his quest for the creature in the wall in favor of defending himself against the four Hufflepuff's who were now intent on capturing him. He managed to flatten himself against the wall and avoid three blasts of red sparks and flung himself away from the wall to avoid a shower of gold sparks from Wayne Hopkins.

* * *

><p>Harry was feeling rather irritated right now. He had gotten captured, in ten minutes flat. He had managed to hold them off for a while, but they had over powered him, and eventually had him backed into a corner. He had decided to surrender with dignity rather than go down kicking and screaming. Zacharias Smith was way too smug about the capture. It was annoying Harry to the point that he would break his own rules just to put as much distance between himself and the conceited Hufflepuff. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the team's base. The base happened to be an old fencing room that wasn't too far from where he knew Susan Bones's team had set up base.<p>

He hadn't been aware that Hogwarts had offered fencing as a class, but that might be the reason why it was abandoned. They probably didn't offer it anymore and just hadn't gotten around to clearing out the room. _'Two minutes.'_ Harry thought leaning against the wall. _'I can wait two minutes no problem.'_ Somehow he didn't believe his own words. Two minutes was a long time to wait when nothing interesting was happening. Waiting was the worst kind of boring! He had to sit there listening to his 'captors' talk about their plans. He tried to pay attention to that. But found that even listening in on enemy plans for boring fast.

Two minutes later he did cheered and lunged for his wand, which had been taken upon his capture. They hadn't been expecting that and he managed to get it back. One sweeping arc of red sparks later and he was sprinting out the door. He had to get back to base and tell the others about the voice in the wall. And Ron would probably want to know Justin's game plan too. But Harry wasn't really thinking about that at the moment. He heard them coming after him and smirked. They couldn't catch what they couldn't find, even if they did know about the cloak now they probably wouldn't look for him right outside their base. So he tossed the cloak over himself and watched them run past with a smug smirk. He took it off and laughed once they were out of sight. "Man, I rule at this game! No one can beat me!" He was joking of course, but he still managed to draw the attention of Luna and Ginny who were on the staircase above hm.

Harry yelped and stepped around their blasts of red and gold sparks. '_Maybe I should be more careful about what I say out loud. . . .'_ He mused before grinning and waving at the younger girls. "Nice try girls, maybe next time!" He tossed the cloak back over himself and ran. Ginny in particular sounded pretty upset about his comment, if her furious shriek was any indication. _'Yep, I_ definitely _have to watch what I say to people.'_

* * *

><p>Hours later it was Dinner time at Hogwarts. To say that the atmosphere between the second years and assorted other students in the younger or older years was tense would have been an extreme understatement. Teams were glaring at each other from all sides of the great hall. People's wands rarely ever left their hands; it was as if everyone was expecting everyone else to attack at some point. This behavior obviously had the Professors baffled, due to the fact that they had managed to keep the game either on the grounds, or in the unused parts of the castle. This was mostly because they were sure that if the Professors found out about the game they would end it right away.<p>

And if there was one thing that they could all agree on, it was that this game was_ far_ from over. Even if today was over, there was always another day to win.

**Note!**

**This chapter took way longer then it was supposed to.**

**I was hit with writers block, badly.**

**And then school started sucking away the will to write.**

**So forgive me if updates are few and far between until summer vacation.**


	14. Ideas, Voices, And Libraries

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Unfortunately for the students of Hogwarts, Sunday came with many things. Among those things was last minute homework. Most of the students whom had played the game the previous day hadn't gotten much sleep, worried that their dorm mates and enemy teams would capture them in their sleep. In the morning Yugi had woken up before everyone else and decided to get an early start on studying. Yugi looked around the common room; it was quiet, too quiet. It was early in the morning, most students weren't even up by then, but that didn't mean that the common room was supposed to be this silent. The Fire was out and the sun was up, but there were no birds chirping, no early riser from the older years, nothing. It was unnerving.<p>

_'Yugi quickly, duck!'_ Yami suddenly shouted causing Yugi to duck down in surprise, a shower of gold sparks flew over his head and collided with the wall behind him. _'It came from behind the sofa up against the wall.'_ Yami informed as Yugi drew his wand and looked around the common room suspiciously.

Yugi nodded _'Thanks Yami.'_ He cautiously walked towards the sofa his wand out in front of him in case of another attack. Suddenly his ambusher popped up from behind the sofa and shot a jet of red sparks at him, though Yugi couldn't get a clear view of the person through the sparks, but he did catch a glimpse of brown hair. His eyes widened in surprise as he figured out what had happened, just in time to avoid another shower of sparks. He dived to the side and knocked over one of the tables to use as a shield. "Hold on a minute, Time out!" Yugi yelped as he was sure more attacks were hitting his makeshift barrier. Once Yugi was sure that there weren't any more sparks coming at him he poked his head over the top of the 'barrier'. He came face to face with Seto Kaiba.

"Coming out sometime soon?" Seto asked amused. Yugi was always overly cautious in this game. Though that was a trait that usually got him ahead in most games, Seto somewhat preferred the spirit of the puzzles more aggressive style of play. Yugi seemed to be trying to figure out how he had gotten in there. Seto decided not to tell him even if he asked. It was ridiculously easy and it was more fun to keep secrets from his overly curious friends.

Yugi sweat dropped and stood up to his full height. He set the table upright and turned to observe his Slytherin friend again. Today Seto was wearing a comfortable looking dark turquoise button up shirt with a collar that seemed to stand up on its own, and simple jeans. Seto wasn't wearing anything flashy today, which meant that Seto was going to participate in the game. But the CEO looked way too smug about something, was it because he had gotten into the Gryffindor common room? Or had he finally succeeded in getting his laptop to work? Yugi wasn't sure, but there were a couple ways he could find out. Of course the first question on his mind came out first. "... How did you even get in here?"

Seto smirked. "Classified information I'm afraid. I thought I'd surprise you all, I have news that couldn't wait until breakfast." He saw Yugi's questioning look and grinned. Something that was very unusual to see on Seto Kaiba. "I've had a stroke of genius! You know how Industrial illusions had used Kaiba Corporation technology to create the duel arena's taking the American circuit by storm?" Yugi nodded but Seto went on before he could say anything. "What if, you could duel like that anywhere, at any time? What if, you could bring duel monsters to life anywhere in the world without having to use one of the tournament arenas? Yugi I'm going to create a portable holographic arena! This would revolutionize duel monsters even more!"

Yugi blinked in surprise, it had been a long time since he'd seen Seto this excited. _'I don't think we've **ever** seen Seto this excited.' _Yami noted, though it was a fascinating idea. The ability to bring the game of duel monsters to life whenever one wanted. Real life duels without being in a tournament; this idea was probably one of Seto's best to date. The Spirit was excited to see what where he would take it.

* * *

><p>Once the shock of finding Seto and Yugi dueling in the common room had worn off, the rest of the group was just as excited as Seto about the idea. They had migrated from the common room to the great hall as soon as Ron's stomach told them too. The game seemed to have been put on hold for now. The teachers seemed relieved that everything was back to normal for the moment. It wasn't until they had moved outside to the same area as the previous day that Harry remembered what had happened yesterday.<p>

"You're only just telling us now_ why_?" Hermione demanded angrily. "Harry this is serious! Hearing voices that no one else can, it's not normal!" She was angry that Harry hadn't told them right away. But more worried that Harry might have tuned into something dangerous lurking in the halls of the castle. Or he was crazy. Either option seemed likely to her.

"Not even in the Wizarding world." Ron frowned. "Mate you might have a serious problem." Ron hoped that his best mate hadn't cracked, that wouldn't make a pleasant letter home. Though, he was reasonably certain that if Harry had gone insane over the summer, he would have noticed. So it was probably something else.

"Wait, what did this voice sound like?" Neville asked curiously. He had an idea about what was going on. But it was a vague one, and a long shot at that. But he had to ask anyway, if he was right they could probably figure out if something dangerous was going on and tell someone before it got too bad, though it wasn't likely that anyone would believe them.

"It sounded bloodthirsty, as if it couldn't wait to rip something apart. It was practically hissing." Harry explained frowning. "Was I really the only one to hear it? I've never heard anything like that before. . . ." This didn't look good. Even if he was on slightly better terms with Malfoy, he didn't think that it would bode well if anyone outside of their group to find out about this. He didn't want all of Hogwarts to think that he was insane.

"Are you sure you haven't?" Seto asked. "If you've never heard it before then you're not insane, but I can't count out delusional." Seto was suspicious, if Harry had gone insane, then they were all in trouble. Harry Potter was a force to be reckoned with as it was. It wouldn't be pretty if he lost his marbles.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes Seto. I'm a hundred percent sure I've never heard that voice before in my life." There was a flash of light that drew everyone's attention.

Yami, the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle had switched places with Yugi. They had begun doing this more often when it was just their friends. So that Yami could voice his own thought and not always have to speak through Yugi. "Well then. We have a problem." Yami said speaking to the group for the first time all year. He looked around the group with a serious expression. This wasn't a good thing. He had a feeling that Harry wasn't just hearing voices like someone who belonged in a psychiatric ward. No, Harry had heard something vile and evil lurking in the castle walls. This year was already shaping up to be more dangerous than the last.

Yami did not have a good feeling about this, not at all.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week had proceeded as usual. Everyone had just been too busy preparing for classes the next day to pick up the game again. But with Halloween right around the corner, there was definitely going to be a chance for them to pick it up. Frankly Ryou was looking forward to when they could It had been extremely fun playing the game with so many other people. He hoped that they could keep the game going for a quite a while. Perhaps they could even set up a prize for the winner. After all, the team that could capture all the others would surely prove themselves to be the best of the best.<p>

Ryou was currently headed to the library, Madame Pince had finally finished reorganizing the library and the group had planned to meet there as usual. His thoughts were drawn to Halloween, Harry Ron and Hermione had received an invitation from Sir Nicholas to his Death Day Party. Seto and Neville had been insisting that they find some way to get out of it.

Personally, Ryou had to agree with them, no matter how interesting it would be, it wasn't worth missing the Halloween feast or not eating at all. He had done enough research on the subject to know that edible food would not be present. And knowing the luck of those three, they'd have some sort horrible misunderstanding with a teacher or get attacked by the suits of armor. It was farfetched he knew, but he also knew that Harry Ron and Hermione had terrible luck. He was reasonably certain anything could happen to them.

As he entered the library he smiled. Ryou couldn't believe how much he missed the near silence of the library. It was much appreciated after they had been forced to relocate to the grounds for that short period of time. When Ryou took his usual seat no one seemed to notice. Hermione was lost to the world under a pile of thick tomes she had found, Harry and Yugi were dueling, Ron and Neville were intently studying for essays they had forgotten to do. Of all of them Ryou was the most worried about Seto. The Slytherin was multitasking, but that wasn't the worrying part. The worrying part was that he was doing five things at once. The Slytherin was working on his still inactive laptop, four different pieces of paperwork, and his portable duel arena idea. The idea had been dubbed the 'Duel Disk' by Seto's little brother Mokuba.

Ryou shook his head in amusement. They hadn't noticed him, but that was fine. They all had a lot to do in preparation for Halloween night. He knew they'd notice him eventually. He pulled one of his favorite novels from his book bag and began reading, idly wondering if Yugi would let Harry win just to shake things up. Ryou had a feeling that winning would get boring every once in a while.

**Note!**

**Well here's the next chapter. Hope you liked it! Tried to make this one longer.**

**I got struck by sudden inspiration so I'll start working on the next chapter but no idea when it will be done.**

**Drop me a review if you have the time!**


	15. Halloween

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>It was Halloween morning. Hermione didn't know why, but she had woken up with a feeling of unease. She felt as though today was going to be full of surprises. Not the good kind, the Nasty kind of surprises. But she pushed those feelings aside and got ready for the days classes. Today was going to be so fascinating. Seto had managed to convince her, Harry, and Ron to leave the Death Day party early and join the feast. Though she had protested, Ron and Harry had eventually agreed and she was outvoted.<p>

Dressed in her uniform Hermione went down to the common room to meet the others. By now she was only slightly surprised to see Seto sitting by the fire. Seto had made a habit of meeting the group in the Gryffindor common room before breakfast. This had caused a bit of an uproar in the beginning, but it had been a little over a week, everyone was at least mildly used to it by now. "Good morning." She greeted sitting down next to him. "Are any of the others awake yet?"

"Not at all, as usual you're the first one awake." Seto said not taking his eyes off the letter he was reading. He wasn't a morning person. His voice held a slightly snappish note due to this. Seto would be much more sociable once he'd had his morning coffee thankfully. He had been getting less and less sleep lately, work from Kaiba corp. never seemed to stop coming. He had other projects that needed his immediate attention as well though. He was finding it hard to balance his time between his own ambitions, and his growing responsibilities with Kaiba Corporation.

Hermione sent him a sympathetic look. Seto really was working hard, more so then even her. Ron had once commented that he never thought he'd live to see someone become a bigger workaholic then her. But everyone in their group knew that it wasn't a joking matter. Seto was going to eventually have to admit that he had bitten of more than he could chew. He was twelve years old and running one of the biggest companies in the world! "Well I'm sure the boys will be waking up soon." Hermione said.

Seto nodded in agreement stuffing the letter into his briefcase and pulling out a pen and some parchment so that he could start on his reply. He wasn't going to be much of a conversationalist this morning she could already tell. If only he would ask for her help, she'd gladly take some paperwork off of his hands or help him organize his time so that he could get everything done. All she needed from him was one simple 'can you help me?' But Hermione knew that Seto wasn't the kind of person to accept help unless he truly felt that that he needed it. She also knew that Seto Kaiba was one of the most stubborn people she had ever met in her entire life. And considering one of her best friends was Ron Weasley that was saying something.

Ryou was the first of the boys to come down. "Good morning Hermione, Good morning Seto." He greeted cheerily. Unlike Seto, the albino was a morning person through and through. It amazed most students how someone could be so _happy_ right when they woke up. Ryou Bakura was no doubt the only person in Hogwarts besides Professor Dumbledore who could wake up in a perfectly good mood for no reason. "Would you like me to read your cards?" He offered what he did every morning. Ever since Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had found out that he could read the future using Duel Monsters cards, they had been asking for a reading every day. Ryou hadn't been able to say no to the two gossipers. So he offered to do the same for his friends, but thankfully so far none of them had accepted.

"Of course not, you know I don't believe that you can actually predict the future." Hermione said testily. Lavender and Parvati were so dense, believing that Ryou could predict the future with Duel Monsters cards of all things. She had a feeling that those girls would believe a chicken if it told them it could predict their futures.

"Alright then, maybe I can give you a reading another day?" Ryou suggested. He knew Hermione didn't believe, but he also knew that it was something he could actually do. A skill he regretfully shared in full with the Spirit of the Ring. He wanted to prove to her and some things really were possible, there were many frauds but divination was a very particular art. You either had talent, or you didn't. Very few people actually possessed the skill to predict their futures.

Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't answer as she was distracted by Harry running down the stairs followed by a furious Ron, a worried looking Yami, and a half-asleep Neville. ". . . I don't even want to know. . ." She sighed standing up and heading for the portrait hole. "I'm going down to breakfast. Is anyone else coming?" Ryou was quick to follow; the white haired Gryffindor didn't want to get caught up in whatever Harry had done to enrage Ron so early in the morning. Or find out why Harry was laughing like a hyena on a sugar high.

Seto on the other hand couldn't care less. Harry could have beheaded Ron's rat for all he cared. He was busy, and he would head down to breakfast as soon as he was finished with this letter. Besides, if The Spirit possessing Yugi couldn't handle Harry, then clearly he had overestimated Yami's supposed dark powers. Potter wasn't that hard to handle, and Seto wasn't going to get involved unless someone started bleeding.

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><p>Yugi was bored. History of magic had to be the worst class in Hogwarts history. He wasn't usually one to criticize, but really, Professor Binns couldn't be more boring if he tried. That was the honest truth, though Yugi hated to admit it. This was his least favorite class. If only it was more exciting. It puzzled him why they never learned about <em>wizard<em> history. They were going over the goblin wars for what seemed like the millionth time. There wasn't any real point to it. He was usually a good student, but this class seemed to turn him into Harry in Potions on a good day.

The short Gryffindor was staring out the window watching the first years have their first flying lesson, rather than pay attention to the lecture being given by the ghostly professor. It was honestly all be could do to stop himself from falling asleep like Harry and Neville already had. This was one class he planned on dropping as soon as he could. It just wasn't of any use to him. Yugi was reasonably certain that any future career he chose, it would have nothing to do with History.

Yami appeared sitting in the empty seat next to him looking just as bored. But the spirit had no choice but to sit through the class with Yugi. It astounded him how any being, Human or Spirit, could possibly have such a boring and monotone voice. It just made no sense, and this was coming from an amnesiac spirit living in thousands of year's old solid gold Egyptian pendent that shared a soul with a twelve year old wizard. Thankfully Yugi brought his attention to something going on outside, taking it away from the lecture which had slowly been lulling him to sleep.

On the grounds Ginny Weasley was showing off at the flying lesson. Madame Hooch was both amused and irritated with the first year. Ginny was a capable flyer, not at the level of the twins or Harry. But she would make a good addition to the team in her later years. Both Yami and Yugi were sure of this. Unfortunately it seemed that the youngest Weasley had inherited the twin's ability to make trouble. She had just initiated a game of in the air tag with Luna Lovegood, Colin Creevey, and someone Yugi hadn't met yet. It was amusing, but the howler Ginny was going to get tomorrow was definitely not going to be.

Yami shook his head. _'She's going to regret that if Professor McGonagall sees.'_ Yami was glad that Yugi had never gotten into such trouble with the strict head of Gryffindor house. Thankfully she never doled out punishment unjustly, so even if Yugi did get in trouble with her Yami would never need get involved. Snape on the other hand. . . . One wrong move and Yami would game him in a second. The Greasy Dungeon Bat deserved it; Yugi was just to kind to see that. His unfair treatment of Harry was one thing, but one wrong move towards Yugi and the Potions Master would regret it.

Yugi nodded in agreement. _'I just hope her mother never finds o- did you see that?'_ Ginny had just preformed a loop-de-loop on her broom. She had almost fallen off in the process, but her classmates were extremely impressed by it either way. It certainly looked like fun. Yugi wished that they could be out there flying with the first years rather than in the dusty classroom with a teacher who could most likely make even Duel Monsters sound boring.

_'Impressive.'_ Yami raised an eyebrow. _'Perhaps she could teach that move to Harry? I'm sure he would love to learn. We all know that Wood is going to kill himself if Harry doesn't win them the Quidditch cup this year.' _The sad part was that Yami wasn't even joking. Oliver Wood was most likely going to try to drown himself again if his team didn't win the Quidditch cup this year. Last year they hadn't been able to win because Harry had gone after the stone and had not been available for the last match of the season.

Yugi sighed. '_Yes I know. I hope nothing happens to ruin our chances . . . well either way. This is definitely going to be an interesting school year.'_ He smiled, though he wasn't sure if it was going to be the good kind of interesting or the bad kind of interesting. Yugi was hoping that it was the good kind. But he personally thought that, it just wasn't in their luck. So he wasn't getting his hopes up too high.

Yami nodded in agreement and stood up to walk around the room. They had learned early on that spirits bound to a haunt couldn't see spirits bound to an object. This came in handy considering Yugi didn't seem to want anyone outside of their group to know about his existence. Yami understood Yugi's concern. The Wizarding World had a tendency to overreact. If they found out that he was 'possessing' Yugi they might take drastic measures and separate them, possibly destroy the puzzle. They knew they were most likely overreacting, but they didn't want to take that risk. Looking back at Yugi Yami noted that the wizard was lost in a daydream. This left him to deal with his boredom on his own.

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><p>Later that night the Halloween feast was in full swing. But Gryffindor house was missing not three students, but four. Ryou Bakura <em>had<em> been at the feast. But he hadn't felt well and had to leave early. This was a lie. Bakura had taken control from Ryou as the Millennium Ring picked up an odd magical signature that clearly did not belong in the halls of Hogwarts. It was a very dark magic signature that had no place wandering around the halls of a school for children.

The Spirit of the Ring wanted to know what it was, and if it posed any sort of threat to his host or his plans. If it was a threat, he would eliminate it now before it became a problem that attracted the Pharaoh and his host. Those nosey do-gooders would just get in his way if they became away of it. The Pharaoh was annoying like that. And his host was just as foolish and irritating as the Pharaoh himself! Bakura looked around the entrance hall to make sure it was empty and that he wouldn't be overseen. Seeing no one he willed the ring to him. Reality rippled slightly as the pendent appeared in his outstretched hand.

Bakura held up the ring and willed it to track the dark energy he had sensed. The ring lit up with golden light and moved to point him in the right direction. It was pointing straight up. Bakura smirked and headed up one of the moving staircases. He wasn't sure how many floors up the magical signature was coming from, but he did not really care. He had all the time in the world as far as he was concerned. Ryou couldn't stop him, and no one else knew what he was doing. If anyone confronted him he would simply give the same story he had given to his Host's friends. Mortals were so easy to fool it was sad. Though some of the teachers at the school might give him problems, Snape and McGonagall were clearly on his 'Avoid at all costs when plotting' list.

The magical signature got stronger as he drew nearer. As of now he could just barely make out the strength of the magical signature and oddly enough, the smell of wet paint. The Spirit stopped for a moment in confusion. "Now what would a dark magic signature want with paint?" That was the real question here. Bakura wasn't stupid. He knew that there might be more going on here then he though. This might even be connected to Potter's mysterious voice for all he knew. Dark Magic and Paint didn't really mix, he should know. He tried it once. Whatever was going on it was probably going to affect the entire school.

Bakura could tell what type of dark magic it was by now. It was soul magic. He moved more quickly as the glow of the ring intensified, as if warning him to pick up the pace. Bakura knew that he was quickly losing his element of surprise. He knew that if he could sense the signature to this degree, whatever it was could sense him as well. He had to move much more quickly if he wanted to find it before it found him.

By the time Bakura arrived at the spot where the dark magic was the strongest, whoever had been there was already fleeing. He was about to follow whoever was leaving the scene, he wanted to discover what had produced such dark magic. But he was distracted by another discovery, at least now he knew what the wet paint smell was about. What he discovered the slightly intriguing. The annoy caretaker Flich's cat was hanging from the wall, unmoving. Next to her written in blood red paint on the wall was a message. The message was written in thick font, purposefully messy and the paint had been made to drip down the wall as if it was blood, truly a testament to creative graffiti threats in Bakura's expert opinion.

The message itself said: **_THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE_**

Bakura observed the message with a thoughtful frown. That was obviously a threat to the entire school, but Bakura wanted to know why. Why would the heir want to threaten a school full of children? Was the heir a student playing one big joke? Or was this something more, a threat as the Pharaoh had feared as of late? And just _what _was the Chamber of Secrets? Bakura wanted answers, and he was going to get them if he had to track down this supposed heir all by himself.

**Note!**

**Forgive any errors in this chapter, I'm too tired to proof read it right now.**

**Tell me whatcha thought, This chapter is longer then the last one.**

**Plus it includes more Yami's then the previous chapters.**


	16. A Way Overdue Chapter

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

**_"Parseltongue"_**

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>By the next morning the entire school knew what had happened to Ms. Norris, she had been petrified. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were glad that they had taken Seto's advice and left the death day party early, it wasn't very fun. Plus, if they had staid any later they probably would have been caught at the scene of the crime and Filch would have blamed them for what had happened to his beloved cat. It was a free period for the second years of Hogwarts. So naturally the group met in the library. But by the time Ryou, Yugi, Ron, and Harry arrived in the library, Hermione was already buried under a large pile of books. She didn't seem to notice them.<p>

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Yugi asked in confusion. They didn't have any homework today, at least no homework that they hadn't already done. Sure Hermione read a lot, but she didn't do this level of reading unless she was researching something she really wanted to know about.

Oddly enough, it was Ron who remembered the message in the hallway first. "She's trying to find out what the chamber of secrets is!" The red head grinned excitedly. If anyone could figure it out it was Hermione. She knew the library like the back of her hand. If anyone could find the right book with the right information, it was Gryffindor's resident know-it-all! Though Ron knew some things about the chamber from his mum and dad, he was pretty sure they thought it was only a legend just like everyone else.

Ryou shook his head in amusement. "You know, there are better things to be doing then studying up on something that probably doesn't concern us." Ryou knew that he was most likely wrong. As was proven last year, anything interesting that happened at Hogwarts was going to involve Harry, Ron, and Hermione in some way. But he could hope couldn't he? The albino Gryffindor took his usual seat at their table and picked up a book off the top of one of the stacks surrounding Hermione. "But I suppose for the sake of all our sanities, I'll help with the research." Yugi joined him while Ron rolled his eyes and began a duel against Harry. Yami appeared and leaned over Yugi's shoulder to read the book as well. Wandering around his endless labyrinth of a soul room every day was starting to get boring.

No one was particularly paying attention to their surroundings anymore. Seto was busy making a breakthrough with his theory on how to get his laptop to work, and Neville had been convinced by Ginny, Luna, and Colin to help them find the kitchens. Apparently Fred and George wouldn't tell Ginny where it was and now she was determined to find it. The youngest Weasley had gone as far as to recruit her best friends and her older brother's most reliable friend to do so.

Due to each of them being rather absorbed in their activities, no one noticed Bakura appear and lean against one of the shelves smirking. It appeared that he wouldn't have to do any work at all to get the answers he desired. Potter's crew would simply do the work for him. Of course there was probably a good chance that Potter would only end up getting into some kind of horrible danger, but really, was that his problem? Not at all so he wasn't that worried about it. The Pharaoh wouldn't let one of his hosts precious friends die anyway.

As if sensing that he was the subject of someone's thoughts, Yami turned around. Bakura barely had time to duck behind the shelf. A second longer and he would have been seen. If the Pharaoh saw him before it was time, well there would be panic among his hosts friends. And Bakura would rather not have to deal with his mortal enemy who didn't remember him. Something told him that would just cause problems. It was annoying enough that the Pharaoh didn't remember anything of their past lives, meaning he had both an advantage, and a disadvantage. The Pharaoh could be a completely different person for all he knew, getting ones memories wiped could have that effect on a person. But it gave him the advantage of knowing things that he could use against the annoying other spirit.

Yami frowned. He could have sworn he had sensed someone behind them. But there didn't appear to be anyone else in their part of the library. Perhaps he was just growing paranoid due to the threat the mysterious heir had made the previous night. Yugi said that he was too paranoid, but even so. He didn't think he was overreacting about this. Someone was watching them, he just knew it. But without any solid proof he knew Yugi would just say that he was being Paranoid . . . again. He decided to go take a look even if he was simply being paranoid. He doubted Yugi was going to find anything of use in a book that was on Witch Trials anyway.

He walked around the various bookshelves near the groups table, but found no one, spirit, or human. Yami shrugged. Maybe he really was just being paranoid.

"I've found it!" Hermione suddenly declared. "The Chamber of Secrets is a fabled secret chamber somewhere in the school created by Salazar Slytherin to house a beast that is said can only be controlled by a direct heir of Slytherin himself!" She states triumphantly. It had taken her much less time then she thought it would to find that out. It wasn't every day that she was this lucky. Now that she had satisfied her curiosity she could move onto more important things. Like Dueling or School work, or finally beating Ron or Seto at Chess. She _would_ beat them someday.

"That's cool." Ron said. "So, Harry do you know when the first Quidditch match of the year is?" It wasn't that he wasn't interested, it was just that he was more interested in Quidditch then the Chamber of Secrets at the moment. There hadn't been a game yet but Quidditch practices were becoming more frequent. At least that's what Ron had noticed.

Harry grinned. "It's in a couple weeks. Its Slytherin verses Gryffindor." He informed. "Also, I fuse my Faith Bird and Skull Red Bird to summon my Crimson Sunbird! That means I win. Because your Celtic Guardian doesn't stand a chance, even with that Lightning blade equipped." Harry pointed out grinning. It was rare that he beat Ron at a strategic game. But at least he had a better chance of winning against his best friend than anyone else. Yugi was so far undefeated; Hermione rarely lost to anyone but Yugi and Seto, and Seto's record was almost as flawless as Yugi's!

Ron groaned. "How did I not see that coming? Oh well good game mate." The second youngest Weasley shuffled his cards back into his deck. "Can't wait for the game, should be interesting to watch." Quidditch was always interesting to watch. But everyone at Hogwarts knew that the Gryffindor and Slytherin matches were the most dangerous and exciting.

Harry nodded in agreement. "With Malfoy being the new seeker it should be extra interesting. Hopefully that heir guy won't mess anything up before then. Wood would go insane if Quidditch was cancelled for some reason." He shuddered. Oliver Wood was the most Quidditch obsessed person on the planet. It was almost scary in a way.

"Speaking of which, who do you think the heir is?" Ryou asked putting down his book and looking around the group. Everyone in the school seemed to have a different theory, and it had only been a day since the message was written. So far Ryou had heard outrageous theories ranging from Severus Snape to Zacharias Smith.

"Malfoy, it's got to be." Ron said with certainty. His interaction with Draco was very limited. Unlike Hermione he had no reason to interact with the blond Slytherin. Seto had more interaction being in the same house and year, and Hermione played Duel Monsters him at least once or more a week. So in his mind there was no one else who could be the heir but the rude, evil, jerk-like son of his father's mortal enemy.

Hermione and Harry shook their heads in unison. "A year ago, I might have agreed with you Ron. But right now? I'm not exactly sure. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd do something like that." Hermione said.

"How can you tell?" Ron asked. "It's not like you've known him for years or anything. He could be the heir." The redhead insisted.

Yugi beat Hermione to explaining. "You can tell a lot about a person by the way they duel." The shortest Gryffindor explained. Dueling was something he was an expert on, almost more so then Seto. But that was only because he took all of his Grandfather's teachings to heart.

"Plus, He didn't turn in Ryou and me back in Nocturne Alley this summer. So I'm pretty sure he's can't be that bad of a guy, though that might be because I traumatized him with my bad luck." Harry grinned laughing a little at the memory. That day had been crazy!

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><p>Today had been the day of the first Quidditch match of the year. The entire school was excited for the event. The very air seemed to be electrified as students from all house piled into the Quidditch Pitch early that morning. Many students found themselves fighting over the best seats in the house. It had been a while since any of them had seen something that promised to so exciting, it was also the first year in the almost a decade that had begun with a SlytherinGryffindor match. It was assumed to be foreshadowing an amazing year of Quidditch. The local Quidditch nuts were practically hyper with excitement as the game began.

It had been going rather well, neither side was cheating. No one had gotten hurt, and Gryffindor was in the lead. But suddenly, one of the Bludgers began attacking Harry, even Draco noticed it. The thing just wouldn't leave the Boy-Who-Lived alone. The teams were neck in neck for points, and whichever team got the Snitch would undoubtedly be the winner. But, if the Gryffindor Seeker died because of a rogue Bludger, the victory would be all but ruined for him. Draco had to admit, he was a little jealous when Harry did a rather impressive loop-de-loop on his broom to avoid the Bludger. If he hadn't it probably would have rammed into his spine and knocked him off of his broom. Clearly, his new top of the line Nimbus 2001 didn't improve his flying. Of course if he didn't win, Flint would kill him. He had to win; it was his chance to prove himself.

Draco looked away from the Gryffindor Seeker to examine the pitch intently. He couldn't see the Snitch. It must have found a good hiding spot. Hopefully he'd be able to find it before Harry got himself killed by the clearly tempered with Bludger. Or before Harry found it and managed to catch it while being tailed by an obviously tampered with Bludger. Either one was possible. Anything was possible where Harry Potter was concerned. Their horrible little adventure in Nocturne Alley over the summer had taught him that. Suddenly a black blur in Gryffindor colors shot past him, and he had to roll to the side to avoid having his head taken off by the Bludger. "Watch where you're flying, Potter!" Draco snapped. He was in no mood to be knocked from his broom by a psychotic Bludger.

"Sorry!" Harry called over his shoulder; the Bludger was hot on his heels. "I've got to find the Snitch before I get knocked off my broom!" He knew he probably didn't have much time to accomplish that before his luck ran out. That Bludger was seriously getting on his nerves. What was up with that anyway? The Bludgers hadn't tried to kill him like this before now! It was making his job harder then it usually was. At least there wasn't a teacher on staff that wanted to kill him this year. That would just be the icing on near-death cake. Harry dived to towards the ground when he saw a flash of gold near the stands, but had to pull out of the dive abruptly to avoid being blindsided by the crazed Bludger.

Draco sped past him on his Nimbus 2001. He had seen the Snitch, but Harry was closer, he had been sure that Harry would get it. But thankfully that Bludger had thrown Harry off course and now he had a decent head start. Unfortunately, Harry saw what he was doing and shot after him, flattening himself against his broom in an attempt to urge it to fly faster than Draco. Harry wanted to start the season off with a win for Gryffindor; Wood wouldn't have it any other way. The Quidditch Crazed Captain would be depressed for weeks if they lost the first match of the year.

Draco had much the same idea, flattening himself against his broom in the same manner as Harry. They were flying neck and neck after the Snitch, chasing it between Beaters and Chasers. They sped after the snitch not even caring that they came so close to the stands that spectators had to duck to avoid getting hit in the heads by their brooms. Due to the two Seekers intense concentration on capturing the Snitch before their opponent, they lost track of the Bludger. They would come to regret this dearly, as the Bludger blindsides them both, slamming into Harry, and causing him to lose control of his broom and slam into Draco.

Though both of them are extremely skilled fliers for their age, they lose control and Harry slams into the side of the stands, while Draco flies forward a few more feet, before falling off veering to the side and crashing into a goal post and falling off his broom. Draco manages to hold up his arm for a second, revealing the struggling Snitch captured in his fist. Slytherin had won the first game of the year. But that hardly seemed to matter, both Seekers were injured. The crowd converged onto the pitch, all four houses and teaches worried about the condition that the two were in. The impact couldn't have been fun, and neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to get up. Which was unfortunate, seeing as the first teacher to reach them was one Gilderoy Lockhart.

It only took the inept Defense teacher less than a minute to remove all the bones in both of the boy's arms. Their arms weren't the only things injured upon impact with the stands and goal posts. But what mattered now was that they get the infirmary, and as far away from Lockhart as possible. Their heads of House were furious, and it was Professor Sprout who helped them to the Hospital Wing rather then they who were too busy yelling at Lockhart.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe this, that Idiot! I'm going to write Father first thing tomorrow and get him fired! I don't care if we have to go all year without another Defense lesson; I refuse to be in the same building as that fool any longer!" Draco ranted in a whisper. It was late that night, but both boys were still wide awake. The blond was furious; they had both had to take Skele-Grow, and were currently going through the painful process of re-growing their entire arms. These last couple hours had not been fun. Draco was determined to make someone pay for his current condition. Normally that person would be Harry, but since Harry was currently in the Hospital bed next to him, that was out of the question. The only other logical choice was Lockhart.<p>

Harry nodded in agreement. "For once, I agree. You write your father and get that fraud fired right away! I don't care what his books say. There is no way in hell he's done anything he said he has!" He hissed angrily. "I mean humiliating me in front of our class is bad enough, but removing all the bones in my arm? That has got to prove that he's an incompetent idiot who shouldn't be trusted around Children of any age, much less teaching us defense!" Harry whispered venomously. " . . . I've been hanging around Seto and Hermione too long. I'm even starting to sound like them!"

Draco laughed. "Nice Potter, Nice." He was relieved that he wasn't the only one to hate Lockhart so much. If he had the support of his fellow students then it was more likely that he could convince his father to get Lockhart removed from Hogwarts forever. Though he wanted to go further, he wanted to ruin Lockhart completely, prove his books false, and destroy his reputation. He would do whatever it took to get sufficient revenge for being put in the hospital by the professor's incompetence.

There was an echoing crack, followed by a fearful squeak. The both turned to see a creature that was familiar to them both in different ways. Harry knew the creature standing there in a pillowcase as Dobby, the House Elf who had appeared at his Aunt and Uncles house and caused him to need to be rescued by his friends. Draco knew the creature as Dobby, the House Elf that had been serving his family for as long as he could remember. "Dobby, what are you doing here?" They asked at the same time, before turning to each other in surprise. "You know Dobby?"

"Yeah, he appeared at my house this summer, and tried to get me to not go to Hogwarts." Harry nodded, frowning. "How do you know him?" Sure Ron had suggested that Draco had sent Dobby, but at the time he didn't believe it. This new information suddenly made Ron's theory seem more realistic.

"He's my House Elf. He works for my family. But no one ordered him to go to your house." Draco frowned at Dobby. "Which makes me wonder what he knows . . . With that message from the Heir of Slytherin, it makes me think that Dobby knew of this beforehand somehow. . . ." But that would mean his Father was involved, and his Father would never intentionally get involved in petrifying Muggle Students and Half-blood's. There was no way a proper pureblood like his father would be involved with such a bluntly criminal plot.

Harry shot a glare at Dobby. "His little visit to my relative's house almost ruined my summer. If he knows something about this heir guy, then he better tell. I bet it has something to do with Voldemort, why else would Dobby have made such a big deal about me not coming to Hogwarts this year?" Though he had put his differences with Draco aside, he found himself fighting back a smirk when both Draco and Dobby flinched violently at the dead wizard's name. Honestly, it was only a name, what power did it hold now? Now that the Dark Lord had been dead for twelve years it seemed stupid to fear his name.

"Well Dobby, does it have something to do with the Dark Lord?" Draco asked. He wanted to find out just as much as Harry did. So many people in the school seemed to think that he was the heir, he wasn't. He couldn't be. The Malfoy's weren't descended from Slytherin even remotely. But of course his classmates and various others around the school were too lazy to do the research to back up their claims that he was the evil heir that was going to sic some evil monster on the school. At least his Professors seemed to have logical heads on their shoulders and didn't treat him like some Dark Lord in training. "I order you to tell us!"

Dobby twisted his hands anxiously. "No sir, no and yes, it does and does not have something to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" Dobby seemed conflicted, like he didn't know what to say. It was as if the little elf wanted to say something else, but couldn't. "But it is not the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that you know! It was the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before his name was not to be named!" Dobby then snatched the Bottle of Skele-Grow from the table between their beds and started hitting himself over the head with it.

Harry struggled to get up with only one arm, and yanked the bottle out of Dobby's hands, not wanting Madame Pomfrey to wake up and hear them. "What do you mean it was the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before he was not to be named? What does that mean?" He demanded. That was clearly a clue of some kind, but he wasn't Hermione, he couldn't decipher things like that with a split second notice. That hardly made any sense to him, and it clearly made less sense to Draco then it did to him.

Dobby shook his head rapidly, his ears flapping loudly. "No, no, Dobby has said too much already! Dobby must leave now!" The little elf shrieked snapping his fingers and vanishing with an echoing crack and a cloud of smoke. A few minutes of staring at the space Dobby had occupied later, they hear footsteps coming towards the Hospital Wing. They quickly slip under their blankets and pretend to be asleep. They heard the door open and people enter. Draco was facing the door, so he could see professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall carrying someone into the room.

Dumbledore told McGonagall to get Madame Pomfrey. The blond quickly shut his eye as the Transfiguration professor sped past. Madame Pomfrey came minutes later; they had a hushed discussion that both boys could hear clearly due to the silence of the Hospital Wing. They stared at each other in shock. Colin Creevey had been petrified coming to see Harry after hours. Now more than ever, they were determined to figure out what Dobby meant. They had to put a stop to this before it went any further. "The Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."

The headmasters words kept them awake the entire night. It had been opened before? Harry needed answers, and he was going to get them. Even if that meant he had to team up with his once worst enemy to do so.

* * *

><p>A few weeks later, Draco and Harry had started a petition to get Lockhart removed from Hogwarts. The amount of students signing it was overwhelming. But that didn't stop the Headmaster from allowing Lockhart to start a Wizard Dueling Club. For some reason a decent amount of students turned up to the first day, including Draco and Harry and their friends. But that was only because they had heard that Snape was helping with the Club. And they wanted to be there to see Snape take Lockhart down a peg, or three. Or maybe put him in the Hospital Wing. They weren't picky; they just wanted to see Lockhart get hurt. And they are not disappointed, in the demonstration duel; Snape blasts Lockhart halfway across the room. This causes everyone to cheer.<p>

Hermione frowns. "Do you think he's okay?" She asked worriedly. Despite beginning to think that Lockhart was a fraud, she didn't want him to get hurt that badly. Lockhart may not be the best teacher, but he was qualified, his books made that very clear. It never even crossed her mind that someone would lie about themselves when publishing a series of books. She never once thought that his books might be more fiction then fact. Of course Seto seemed very disappointed in that. As if he had expected something different from her.

Seto snorted. "Who cares? Maybe Snape will do us a favor and hurt him so badly that they have to send him off campus." He didn't know if there were such things as Substitute teachers in the Wizarding world, but he was sure that the Headmaster could find them a better teacher then some fraud who barely knew how to hold his want properly. Hogwarts was supposed to be the best school of its kind; so far, Seto was in no way impressed. Then again, it was also supposed to be the safest place in magical Brittan. That too bad been proven to be false last year.

"Yeah, that'd be bloody brilliant!" Ron agreed enthusiastically, watching Lockhart make act like an idiot in an attempt to cover up the fact that he had gotten beaten miserably with only one spell. It was great to see the egotistical idiot being taken down a peg for once. Maybe this club wouldn't be so bad after all. He might even come again if Snape kept attacking Lockhart. He didn't even like Snape, but attacking Lockhart like that had raised the jerk a few pegs in his mind. Now if only he'd stop hating Harry, he'd be a halfway decent professor!

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm going to remember that spell, Expelliarmus was it?" He asked committing the spell to memory. He'd be practicing that later for sure. He was going to master that, it looked right useful. He might need it one day. You never knew what was going to happen at Hogwarts, or wherever he went really. But most of the trouble seemed to brew at Hogwarts, which was ironically supposed to be the safest place in the magical world.

"I wonder what Spell Professor Lockhart was attempting; I don't recall a wand movement that required you to drop your wand." Ryou said in amusement. "I suppose though, since he's such an accomplished defeater of Dark Creatures, he might have been performing some sort of complicated counter charm, which was so complicated that it couldn't block low level disarming spells." He said, his voice dripping with so much sarcasm that Harry could almost taste it.

Hermione frowned in disapproval but didn't get the chance to scold them. The two professors had moved on from the mock-duel and were now pairing people up to practice-duel. Hermione was paired with Millicent Bulstrode, Draco was paired with Harry, Seto was paired with Ron, and Ryou was paired with Daphne Greengrass. It took less than two minutes for the duels to deteriorate into mass chaos. Seto and Ron somehow ended up tag dueling Pansy and Daphne, Draco accidentally conjured a venomous snake, and Hermione's duel with Millicent had ended in the bigger girl holding Hermione in a headlock.

Seto dearly wished he knew some shield spells or something, futile casting Flipendo and Expelliarmus was getting them nowhere. Ron knew some other spells, like ones to make people dance and the Bat Boogey Hex, but they were still getting creamed by the two pureblood girls. It didn't help that there wasn't much to hide behind in the room, they had to keep dodging spells and had very little time to throw back spells of their own. Harry seemed to be fairing well against Draco, but Hermione stood no chance in a psychical fight against Millicent. Ryou seemed to be trying to help her, but he wasn't much of a match for Millicent either, he was a man of words, not action.

Ron dragged Seto out of the way of a spell. "Concentrate on the duel!" The red head hissed at Seto and shot another spell at the girls, which they dodged. Snape and Lockhart were trying to bring order back to the room, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen any time soon. They were on their own for now. Ron didn't want to get beaten by two Slytherin Girls; no matter how cunning they were they weren't going to take him down without a fight.

Ryou was trying to convince Millicent to let Hermione go. But she wasn't very willing to listen to him. Eventually he got fed up and cast Flipendo on her. She was forced to let Hermione go and instead tried to go after him. This caused him to squeak and run away from her in fear. He didn't want to fight anyone, much less a girl that could probably snap him in half with no effort at all. Bakura was disgusted with him he knew, but he didn't care at this point. He just didn't want to end up in the infirmary because a girl had broken one of his bones.

Harry and Draco both stared at the snake in shock. Neither were sure how it had gotten there, it had been an accident, a simple mispronunciation of a spell, which collided with Harry's spell. And somehow that snake had appeared. Neither of them knew what to do now. The snake was watching them with the same amount of uncertainty that they were watching it with. Suddenly, it attacked, lunging for Harry in blind terror. It seemed to think that it had to attack them first, or they would attack it. This is probably what they would have done if they were other snakes, and not twelve year old boys who had no experience fighting at all.

"**_Stop, leave me alone!"_** Harry shouted backing up from it. He didn't want to go back to the Hospital Wing so soon, Madame Pomfrey would kill him! The snake froze and stared at him as if he was speaking a different language. Actually, everyone was staring at him for some reason. Suddenly Ron was dragging him from the room and Hermione was freaking out at him for some reason. He really had no idea what happened, all he knew was they were suddenly in an empty classroom. He was quickly informed that he was a Parseltongue, someone who could speak to snakes. This was a skill closely linked to Salazar Slytherin; Seto warned him that people might now accuse him of being the Heir.

**Note!**

**I am SO sorry for how long this took, I just don't know what happened! I tried to make this chapter way longer then usual to make it up, but I don't know if that will work. I'll try to have the next chapter up by tomorrow at the least!**


	17. The Heir Conspiracy

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

**_"Parseltongue"_**

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>As it turned out Seto was right. People did assume Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin once word got out that he could talk to snakes. It got annoying after the first couple of days. But he tried to not let it get to him, it wasn't that bad. His friends at least knew he wasn't the heir. He didn't need the rest of the school to like him. For some reason the Hufflepuff boys seemed to be actively against Harry. Though he was certain he had never done anything to them that could possibly make them think he was the Heir of Slytherin. They were being a bit prejudiced in his opinion. But then again that could accurately describe most of the magical community too. Nothing Harry said or did could convince a majority of Hogwarts that he wasn't some evil dark wizard setting a monster on innocent students. People seemed to forget that he had a perfectly legitimate alibi for where he was the nights of both the attack on Ms. Norris, and the attack on Colin. And if they didn't forget, they didn't seem to care.<p>

Draco seemed to find this more annoying than most of Harry's friends. Just a few days ago people were calling _him_ the heir, and now they thought the heir was Harry? He honestly didn't know what made people think that. So the Gryffindor Golden-Boy could talk to snakes, who cares? There was a chance that the Potter's really were related to Salazar Slytherin, seeing as there wasn't a way to trace their family tree back that far. But to be honest, the Potter's had been in Gryffindor for so many years, any Slytherin that could have possibly been in them had no doubt been stamped out. Draco stared out the window of the Transfiguration Classroom rather than listen to Professor McGonagall's lecture. The Slytherin's shared this class with the Hufflepuff's. He could hear somewhere behind him, Ernie McMillan trying to convince Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot that Potter was the heir. He tightened his grip on his quill in frustration.

_'Someone's Jealous.'_ The voice in his head, which had been blissfully silent for the last few months, commented in a sing-song voice. _'I don't see why, you should be happy. They're not treating you like some Dark Wizard now. Isn't that what you were complaining about just a few days ago?'_

Draco frowned but tried not to react outwardly. Seto, who was sitting next to him, was very observant. And he didn't want to give anything away. '_It's not that. It's just; I thought Slytherin's were supposed to be the house that turned on you. Not Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff, I thought they were Gryffindor's closes allies. Apparently I have house Politics all wrong._' You find out one thing about someone and suddenly their public enemy number one. While he was glad to not be the number one suspect for the Heir of Slytherin anymore, he was annoyed that Harry had unintentionally stolen the spotlight again. At least he was in the top three of his year. Right behind Seto and Hermione in overall grades, of course his Father wasn't pleased that he was being beaten in every class by Muggleborns. But his Mother didn't seem to be too put out by that fact.

It felt like the voice was shrugging_. 'The people need someone to hate. Potter's doing you a favor, if they all hate him you won't have to deal with them. The Public need something to rally against, it's good for moral you see.'_ How the voice new these things Draco had no idea. If it was a voice in his head, shouldn't it know only what he knew? Or maybe it had something to do with magic . . . . Whatever it was, he wasn't about to turn into Hermione trying to figure out why he heard voices in his head on occasion. _'Actually, you could stand to be a bit more like her. She's already rubbing off on you. Nice girl, you should spend more time with her. Maybe she could Tutor you in something.'_

_'Granger, Tutor me? Don't be ridiculous! There's nothing she could teach me that I couldn't learn myself.'_ Draco mentally scoffed. _'And I spend too much time around her as it is! Have you seen the looks Pansy is giving Granger as of late? If I do more than Duel Granger on occasion, Pansy will rip her apart!'_ Pansy wasn't his girlfriend; she was simply a childhood friend who he was engaged too, due to a contract made between his parents and hers. But that didn't mean he didn't like her. He just couldn't see himself marrying her anytime in the future. Not that it was up to him anyway. If his Parent's didn't make him marry her, she would! The girl was crazy about him for reasons he couldn't even begin to fathom. He liked to think that she was only interested in him because of his money, but that was clearly not the case. The Parkinson's weren't short on money; Pansy wasn't some gold digger either.

_'Aw, you do care!'_ The voice teased in an overly sappy voice. '_Who knows maybe one day you'll end up with Granger?' _The voice suggested in a manner that made it seem as though it was smirking._ 'Fate works in mysterious ways._' Draco really hoped that the voice wasn't serious. If he even thought about dating Granger, Pansy would end his existence, and if she didn't, His mother would! But he didn't get the chance to snap at the voice, as the bell rang signaling that class was over. Today was one of the miraculous days where Professor McGonagall had forgotten to assign them homework. He quickly gathered his things and rushed towards the door, his next class was Potions. He would hate to be late, and it was the furthest possible classroom from where he was now.

Draco and Seto left the room at the same time, but found that the hallway was blocked by a large crowd of horrified students. The shared a quizzical look before Draco realized what had happened. Seto figured it out a second later and groaned. Just who had been attacked now? It hadn't even been a month since the last one! He was about to say something, but Ernie McMillan beat him too it. "Caught red handed!" The annoying Hufflepuff second year shouted triumphantly.

Draco face palmed. "Potter. . . ." He sighed. For there was no other person it could be. Of course he knew that Harry wasn't the heir. The odds of the Gryffindor Golden-Boy going around petrifying people when half of his friends were Muggleborn were nonexistent. But still, being caught at the scene of a crime, this wasn't going to help his already terrible reputation. Hopefully Harry had a decent alibi in place, or the rest of the school year would be hell for the Gryffindor. It wasn't like he cared about Harry or anything. But he'd have to listen to Hermione go on and on about attempts on Harry's life during their duels, if this escalated as he thought it would.

Professor McGonagall fought her way to the crowd and stopped dead for a full minute, taking the scene in. She turn turned towards the students and ordered them off to class. The last thing Draco saw before Seto dragged him away was the Transfiguration teacher carting Harry off, presumably to the Headmaster's office. Even though they had been held up for quite some time gawking like idiots at the scene of the crime, they still managed to make it to their next class on time.

* * *

><p>Later in History of Magic, Harry was able to tell his friends what had happened. He had gone to see Hagrid with Ryou, and had been on his way to the library afterword. But he had come across the two petrified victims, Justin Finch-Fletchly, and Sir Nicholas just as the bell had rung. He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, as usual. Harry also informed them that someone was killing off Hagrid's roosters.<p>

Hermione frowned. "Rooster killings hardly matter. Harry, everyone thinks you're the heir now!" History of Magic was a class that even she had to admit, was better off being used as a free period. In her opinion, they seriously needed to do something to boost Harry's reputation. If the attacks didn't stop, or the real heir wasn't caught, they might expel him! Without any conclusive evidence other then Harry being at the scene of the crime, there was little chance of that happening. But Hermione didn't want to take any chances. "We have to do something about this!" Either someone was framing Harry, or Harry had the worst luck ever.

"What can we do though?" Ron asked. "It's not like we can just go and post a flier on the bulletin board. Wanted: Heir of Slytherin, Reward: Fifty galleons." He said sarcastically. "And our prime suspect was Malfoy! But after what Harry said happened in the Hospital Wing, It can't be him! If it was Harry, then he would have gone after you or Seto by now."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that just make me look even more suspicious?" He wondered. "I mean, if two of my best friends dropped into comas. That's all well and good. But if that happens right after I reveal to the world I can speak Snake language. Don't you think people would suspect me?" As it was people thought that he was some evil secret disciple of Voldemort. He'd actually been outright accused of jinxing the sorting hat the other day. Of course Theodore Nott might have been joking. . . It was hard to tell. He didn't really show much emotion. But it was starting to get annoying that people seemed to believe that he, a first year who had just found out about magic. Had somehow jinxed the ancient magical hat created by the founders themselves.

"Well it might make you look suspicious, but it might also be an amazing cover." Ron argued. "See, no one would suspect you of petrifying your friends. Even if one was a Slytherin. So that means that you would be off scot free." For a Gryffindor, Ron sure seemed to think like a Slytherin at times. Now that he thought about it, Harry supposed that Ron was spending too much time with Seto. Ever since Seto has explained what electricity was to Ron, the second youngest Weasley had been spending more and more time around his Chess Rival. Ron seemed to soak up the information in a very Hermione-like manner. He was looking forward to Seto finally making his breakthrough on technology working at Hogwarts. If only so that he could check out 'The Internet' that Seto was so fond of.

Harry raised an eyebrow at his longtime friend. "You need to spend less time around Slytherin's mate. It's making you paranoid." Not that that was a bad thing. It seemed like Ron was benefiting from hanging out with Seto more. Seto might possibly have as much of an influence on Ron as he had on Ryou if they became actual friends. Seto needed to let more people in, so far Hermione and Yugi could really only be considered his close friends. The rest of them were trying, but Seto was a very closed off person by nature.

"I think he's perfectly mirroring the mentality of half the student body." Hermione said. "That's probably what all of them are thinking even more so now that you were caught right at the scene of a crime." She hated to admit it, but Ron had a point. If she didn't know Harry like she did, she'd probably have been suspicious of him from the very beginning of this heir nonsense. Thankfully, there had to be some way to clear his name. The only people who thought he was the heir were a bunch of teenagers. It couldn't be too hard to change their minds about something, could it? Of course, if worst came to worst, she could just threaten some people with her blue bell fire. That would at least get them to shut up publically.

Yugi sighed. "Hermione and Ron have a point. But the important thing is that we all know Harry's innocent, and that's good enough. We just have to work on the rest of the school. It would help if Harry didn't keep ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time though. . ." The shorter second year shook his head. "But there's nothing we can do about that now. We'll just have to hope that the attacks hold off for a while."

Ryou nodded in agreement. "There isn't much else we can do is there? This heir fellow is proving to be very tricky. It would take a lot more than a group of second years to catch him if he can go around in broad daylight petrifying people and not get caught." That was a bit disconcerting for Ryou. After all, he was a Muggle-Born. He could potentially be a target. Of course Bakura wouldn't let him get petrified without a fight, but that didn't mean that it couldn't happen. That was scary part about someone targeting students with non-magical backgrounds. Almost anyone in their group other then Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna could potentially be the next victim to wind up in the Hospital Wing.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Harry wasn't really paying attention to the group discussion anymore. He was looking around the room, while most of the class was asleep or goofing off, a couple of them were shooting him and his group suspicious looks. As if they were all plotting the next attack somehow. Glancing over at the Hufflepuff section of the room, he noticed Megan was looking a little pale. Was she sick? It wouldn't hurt to check. She wasn't one of the Hufflepuff who actively declared that he was the heir; so maybe at least one person in the house of the Badger was on his side. "I'll be right back guys. Cover me, in case Ernie get's any funny ideas." Harry said. Before anyone could stop him he started walking over to Megan's table. Ernie McMillan shot him a dark look, but Harry dutifully ignored it. He sat down next to Megan. "Hey Megan, you okay? You look kind of pale." Megan wasn't a close friend like the others. But she wasn't mean to him or anything; they just never had the chance to talk outside of History of Magic.

Megan is startled. She looks up from the little black journal she had been writing in, and slams it shut a second later. "Oh hello Harry, yes I'm fine." She said, although that didn't really reassure Harry. She looked pale, and she was pretty jumpy. He wondered if she had been close to Justin or something. The attack had probably shaken her up pretty badly if that was the case.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked frowning. "If you're sick you should probably go to the Hospital Wing." He could plainly tell that even if she wasn't sick, she should still go to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey might be able to give her a calming drought or something. Close friends or not, he didn't like to see anyone that wasn't his enemy upset like this. He continued to ignore the suspicious looks being sent at him by Ernie and a few Ravenclaws. Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones seemed to be fine with having him around though. Which was a good thing, since that meant that Ernie and Zacharias were the only ones who would hex him if he staid too long. He could probably take them, maybe, with a lot of luck.

"Really, I'm not sick. Just a little tired. I'll be fine by tomorrow." Megan assured him. "Thanks for your concern though, none of the boys in my house have noticed." She shot Justin and Zacharias an annoyed look. "Speaking of them, you better go back to your friends; before they hex you." Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't want to start a war between the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's. So he took his leave, returning to the cluster of desks that held his rather large group of friends.

"What was that all about?" Seto asked looking up from the folder of paperwork he had been steadily completing throughout the class period. Seto was the only Slytherin in the group. So he didn't have classes with the Gryffindor's and the Hufflepuff's at the same time other then History of Magic.

"Harry's been trying to increase inter-house relations by befriending Megan. That's the Hufflepuff girl he was talking to." Hermione explained in vague amusement. "His efforts are largely in vain now that the entire school thinks he's the heir." That wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't wrong either. Hermione didn't speak to Megan much outside of the library. The Hufflepuff girl usually came to her for suggestions on books for studying. Megan found Madame Pince to be a tad too scary for her to approach.

Neville shrugged. "At least he's trying. Dumbledore has been trying to increase inter-house relations for years. As you can see it's never really worked. Students tend to only really interact with other students in their houses. It's just easier that way." Neville tended to gravitate towards Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot when he wasn't hanging around the group. Due to that he became well versed in Hogwarts politics. Susan and Hannah were very outgoing. Between the two of them they had developed a social network that reached all four houses.

"True." Ron agreed. "I mean, Seto here is proof enough that not all Slytherin's are evil. But we'd never have known that if we weren't his friend. So maybe it would be a good thing to reach out to the other houses? Plus, the more people who get to know Harry, the less people will think he's the heir." He grinned. That was probably a good strategy. Other then the fact that no one wanted to go near Harry long enough to get to know him. One minute he was famous, and the next he was Public Enemy Number One. There weren't many upsides to being famous it seemed.

Yugi and Ryou shrugged. They didn't really have any input on that. It was a good plan in theory. But in practice it was harder then Ron made it sound. Yugi knew that Yami thought it was a good plan of action. If only until they thought of a better one. Ryou on the other hand, knew that Bakura would rather simply hunt down the heir and eliminate the threat before the current conspiracy got anymore out of hand.

* * *

><p>Weeks later, Christmas break caught the group entirely by surprise. Earlier in the month Professor McGonagall had gone around with the signup sheet for students who were staying at Hogwarts over the break. Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Ryou, and Ginny all sign up to stay. Seto, Yugi, Neville, and Luna all end up going home for the holidays. The group was now partially separated for a full two weeks. For some reason that made Hermione extremely nervous.<p>

**Note!**

**Okay so this took way too long for me to get out. School started up again for me and it just keeps zapping away my will to write.**

**I'm really sorry for how long this took.**


	18. A Holly Jolly Holiday

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Yugi was very grateful that Seto continued to offer him use of the Kaiba Corp. jet. It was a lot more relaxing of a flight back to Japan that way. Plus, Seto didn't seem to mind the company either. Unfortunately, Yami hated planes. They seemed to bring out the worst of his paranoia. He was always worried that something would go wrong and they would crash. Yugi had to continually calm down the spirit and assure him that Seto had hired real professionals. They wouldn't be crashing any time soon.<p>

Though he found it odd that Yami only just started disliking planes. Last year and the previous summer he had been fine with them. Maybe it was a delayed reaction of some sort. Last year Yami had still been getting to know the world around him. It made sense that he wasn't quite sure what to make of planes back then.

But now he was fully against them. He didn't quite know why, but the Spirit of the Puzzle just felt that man was not made to fly around in giant metal canisters. It was instinctual really. But Yugi kept telling him that he'd have to get over it. They were going to be flying back to England in just two weeks after all.

Seto glanced up from his laptop to watch Yugi have a conversation. The Conversation appeared to be held by Yugi himself, and the empty seat across from him. Any normal person would assume that Yugi wasn't right in the head. But Seto knew better. Having met the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle in person, he knew that his friend was literally speaking to someone that only he could see.

It was odd at times, but he was slowly growing used to it. Although he dearly wished that there was a way to make the spirit visible to someone other than Yugi. Then Yugi wouldn't have to translate everything Yami said. Seto was interested in having a conversation with the spirit. If only because He said that Yami was much more actively interested in competitive dueling then Yugi himself was.

From the sound of it, the conversation was about the spirit's extreme paranoia kicking in. Yugi openly admitted to the group that Yami could be a bit overly paranoid at times. And considering the spirit probably came from Ancient Egypt, if the origin of the Millennium Puzzle was anything to go by. Seto had a feeling it was completely natural for the Spirit to have a delayed fear of heights. But Yugi seems to be doing a fine job heading off any and all concerns that Yami had.

At least, that's the impression he got from listening to Yugi's half of the conversation. It was hard to really know what was going on when you could only hear what one person was saying. But Seto liked to think that he was getting better at interpreting the nature of Yugi's conversations with Yami.

Seto's thoughts suddenly segued into a new train of thought. He knew that this was an opportunity that they probably wouldn't get for the remainder of the school year. A chance for a vacation was something that he was slowly learning not to take for granted. Yugi insisted on staying in close contact over the break, because they lived in the same city. So at Mokuba's insistence, they had made plans to visit the new Egyptian exhibit of the Domino City Museum. Even if it was only to find out more about the mysterious spirit of the puzzle, it would still be a learning experience.

The Millennium Puzzle came from Egypt according to Yugi's grandfather. So maybe learning about Egypt would lead them to learning more about the spirit and the Puzzle. Of course this was all just speculation. But Yugi was willing to try it if it helped Yami get over his amnesia. Seto found it strange that a spirit could have amnesia, but then again. The Millennium Puzzle was a product of magic. Anything was possible with magic.

Other than that, Seto mostly planned to work, catch up with Mokuba, and meet with the Kaiba Corp. board of Directors. He had also set aside time to do some research at the Domino City Library. They were about to land in Domino City airport. He clicked his laptop shut. Once they landed he'd call Mokuba and check in from the Limo. He was anxious to see his little brother again. Even though it had been the same last year, he didn't like leaving Mokuba alone at the mansion for so long.

He'd be able to sleep easier at night once Mokuba joined them at Hogwarts next year. Well, granted that he didn't get much sleep nowadays anyway. But it would still make him feel better if Mokuba was at least on the same continent as he was. Naturally, as a big brother, he had a right to be worried. Ron, who secretly looked out for Ginny behind her back, would agree with him. No one else in their group but the second to youngest Weasley understood that fully. But he couldn't blame them for that, seeing as the rest of their group didn't have any siblings that he knew of.

* * *

><p>Yugi lounged on the couch in the living room of the game shop. There was a Duel Monsters tournament on TV. Yugi was taking up maybe half the couch. How he loathed being so short; while Yami was sitting on the other half. The Spirit of the Puzzle was completely absorbed in the match being broadcasted on television. Yugi loved Duel Monsters just as Yami did, but the taller duelist was way more into the tournaments then he was. Although he had to admit, the holographic arena's definitely made the tournaments more interesting.<p>

It had been a little under a week since their return from Hogwarts. Other than the occasional visits to the Kaiba Mansion, they rarely left the shop. Yugi personally preferred to spend the vacation time with his grandpa. So far it had been a slow week at the shop. Most people got their Christmas shopping done earlier than the last two weeks before the holiday. But there were still a few last minute buyers who wandered into the shop once in awhile.

It was a nice change from the chaos that Hogwarts had been in recently. Yami had been reluctant to tell his Grandfather about the recent petrifactions, but he insisted that they not keep more secrets than they already were. His Grandpa was as well informed on the situation at the school as Yugi himself was.

At the moment they were simply killing time until it was time to help with dinner. Yami couldn't really help with any of the cooking, due to lacking a physical form. But he seemed interested in learning, just in case. Yugi also appreciated the conversation. There were rarely times when his Grandpa didn't have something to say while they were cooking. But when he didn't, Yami always had something to contribute, even if his Grandpa didn't know it.

Even after all this time, Yugi still wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not to let his Grandpa in on the fact that he now shared a soul with an ancient spirit. It was one thing to wear the puzzle all the time. It was another to be possessed by a spirit living inside of it. Yami understood this, and would wait for Yugi to tell his Grandpa, rather than do anything to reveal himself needlessly.

The Duel between quickly rising duelists Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood was quickly coming to a close. Yugi knew that they were both powerful duelists. They would both probably be invited to the regional championships. The date of said championships was as of yet unannounced. Yami observed their strategies interestedly. They were so unlike the ones Yugi and Yami used to duel each other, or had seen their friends use. Of everyone in their ever growing circle of friends, Yugi, Yami, Hermione, and Seto, were the only ones that could ever hope to duel professionally.

Their strategies were much more refined than that of Harry and Ron's. Hermione and Seto had a lot of tournament experience, but Yami had a lot of skill for any type of game. Seto continually tried to convince Yugi to enter another tournament after he had come in first in the neighborhood tournament he had entered the previous summer. But professional dueling, as much fun as it sounded, seemed like it would eat up a lot of his time. He'd prefer to use the coming summer to recover from whatever else happened before the end of the school year. But it might be fun. He had plenty of time to think on that after all.

The next day they would go with Seto to the Domino City Museum. That promised to be very interesting. Yugi was more interested in it then Yami, surprisingly. Yami tended to believe that he lost his memories for a reason, and that they shouldn't go meddling into things that probably didn't concern him any longer.

It had been thousands of years since he lost his memories, if the age of the puzzle was any indication. He had survived long enough without them, he didn't need them. He was perfectly content with being the other half of Yugi's soul. But Yugi would not be dissuaded. He wanted to help Yami figure out who he was in life, rather than just accepting who he was in death. The tournament ended minutes later.

Yugi mulled over a thought for a moment before turning to Yami. "Hey, do you want to duel?" They usually dueled in one of their soul rooms. But occasionally Yugi would be seen in a corner of the library or the common room dueling with himself rather than any of his friends. They didn't do that too often, but there wasn't really any harm in doing it here.

Grandpa wouldn't think any less of him for dueling with someone that he couldn't see. And they had a relatively large span of time to fill before dinner was to the point that they would be allowed to help. Yugi kept two decks on him at all times for this purpose. Yami's deck, which was made up of cards from Grandpa's old deck that he never used anymore, while Yugi's deck was made from a mixture of relatively new cards and a couple older ones that Yami hadn't used in his own deck.

The Spirit grinned. '_I was wondering when you'd ask.' _If there was one thing Yami loved, it was Duel Monsters. Yami loved games of all kinds, but he seemed especially fond of Duel Monsters for reasons that neither of them could figure out.

Yugi had yet to beat Yami in a duel. But that was half the fun for him, losing was such a rare thing for him when he dueled. It was a relief to know that there was still area's for him to improve in. Those were the times when Yami could teach him about the game, instead of the other way around. Their duels were pleasant change from the status-quo, which usually consisted of Yugi winning, winning, and winning some more. What was the point of winning so often? If you always won you never improved. Or so Yami believed.

This was why he never held back against Yugi in any of their duels. They both wanted to improve, and they couldn't do that if they both always won. This was more of a problem for Yami then it was for Yugi. Yami wanted to duel professionally to get the challenge he'd been craving for months now. He wanted a duel that would truly test his skills and push him to the very limits of his abilities. Yugi quickly set up the mats and their decks. The duel ended just as they were called in to help with dinner.

* * *

><p>The next afternoon found Yugi, Yami, Mokuba, and Seto outside the Domino City Museum. The weather in Japan was far nicer than it was at Hogwarts this time of year. Considering their part of Japan didn't get hit with snow half as hard as the area of Scotland that Hogwarts was located in. It was a pleasant change for the three that would be returning to Hogwarts in less than a week's time. The sun was shining brightly, and there were quite a few people milling about. This was normal for a city as largely populated as Domino.<p>

The Museum itself was not that much of an impressive building. A simple two story layout with various historical exhibits, a few of the storerooms in the basement had been converted into display rooms to create space for the new Egyptian exhibit. Yet the large staircase leading up to it gave it a strangely ominous feel, as though it hid secrets that were never meant to be uncovered, much less displayed for the public.

Mokuba was grinning excitedly and urging Seto and Yugi to hurry up so they could go inside. He had always wanted to check out the museum. Seto shook his head in amusement and followed his little brother up the long staircase towards the doors. Yugi turned to Yami and Seto grinning. He had been to the museum a couple times before. But that was years ago, and the Egyptian exhibit was very new. It was the first permanent new exhibit the museum had gotten in almost a year.

It was really lucky that the archeologists who had found a pharaoh's tomb had agreed to permanently put it on display in Domino city. Yami smiled back, he was just as intrigued as Yugi was about the museum. But he doubted that they would find anything relevant to his past. It would at the very least, be a chance to learn more about the world around him. Yugi liked to sometimes joke that Yami would be a Ravenclaw if he was ever put under the sorting hat.

The vertically challenged second year was the last to make it to the top of the stairs. Mokuba was the first to make it because he had ran the entire way, Seto the second because he had longer legs than Yugi did. Yami simply floated along next to Yugi, trying to hide how amused he was that he was the only member of the group who didn't have to walk. As much as he found it annoying at times, to be confined to interacting with only one person. There were subtle perks to being a spirit, it seemed.

"So where should we go first?" Mokuba asked as they stepped through the doors of the building. Mokuba was looking for a floor map. So that they could find out what exhibits were the closest to them. Seto and Yugi followed along compliantly, they had their own idea's, but Mokuba tended to get his way most of the time.

Neither of them was particularly inclined to take charge in these circumstances. Throw them down a trapdoor with killer plants, and they'll be the first ones to come up with a plan. But spend the day at the museum; they'll just go along with the majority vote, Seto due to his disinterest in most things, only having a large circle of friends due to Hermione and Yugi's efforts to befriend him the previous year. Yugi was a generally friendly person, and would go along with whatever made everyone happy. "Hey, check it out. They've got a dinosaur exhibit! Can we go see that first?" The excited ten years old asked.

Seto nodded in consent. He had only come because no one, not even the great Seto Kaiba could stand up to his little brother's puppy dog eyes. His record was thirty seconds, but he always caved in. Something Mokuba wasn't afraid to take advantage of. It wasn't likely that he'd find interest in anything here anyway.

The past was the past. It was supposed to stay there. Though the ghosts of Hogwarts and the spirit Yugi had bonded to his soul would say otherwise. He had trouble believing that the spirit of the puzzle was as old as the item it was trapped in.

Mokuba grinned and lead the way, leaving the older boys to trail behind him. Yugi shrugged, they'd probably get through most of the museum either way, and it didn't really matter where they started. Yami nodded in agreement, floating along next to Yugi, plus the spirit kind of wanted to compare the dinosaur bone structures to the memories he had of Norbert. "_Perhaps these dinosaurs are the prehistoric ancestors of our dragon friend from last year?" _The duelist questioned curiously.

Yugi laughed and nodded in agreement. "We'll have to see." He noted that Seto was looking at him questioningly. "Yami was just wondering if Dinosaurs could be related to dragons." The shorter wizard said cheerfully, laughing. "He's such a Ravenclaw sometimes." There was nothing bad about that of course, but he would always be partial to Gryffindor. House loyalty was kind of conditioned into you once you from the very moment you learned of the Hogwarts houses after all. Yami had the heart of a Gryffindor, but the mind of a Ravenclaw.

Seto smirked. Interesting theory, he'd have to look into that. Applying science to the magical world might be an interesting project in the future. "As someone who was almost sorted there, I feel as though I should be insulted." He said sardonically, falling into step next to the other duelist.

It didn't matter really, Ravenclaw was a respectable house, but Slytherin was far above it. Being smart was one thing, but having the cunning to use your genius to further your own goals by any means was a far superior skill. Of course, he was being bluntly biased towards the house of the snake.

The two let Mokuba drag them around the museum for a while before they actually arrived at the desired exhibit. Yami was fascinated by the dinosaur bones, while Seto appeared to be bored by everything within a few minutes. Mokuba dragged Yugi around the bones and dinosaur information plaques excitedly. The elder boy was kind enough to indulge him, though Yugi greatly wished that Seto was watching his little brother instead of him. Instead the Slytherin was reading dinosaur facts with a smug smirk.

Yami snickered; apparently Seto was coming to consider Yugi as free babysitting. The spirit floated around the exhibit before Yugi appeared mysteriously at his side. '_C'mon partner, it's time to move on.'_ It was easy to lose track of time as a spirit. Normally he had a much better grasp of what was going on around him. Obligingly, he followed the rest of the group to the next exhibit.

* * *

><p>It took two hours before they managed to find themselves anywhere near the Egyptian exhibit. Before Seto could saddle Yugi with Mokuba, spirit and host quickly broke from the group. They wandered around the display cases full of ancient treasures and plaques of Egyptian facts for a while. They came across a mummy soon after, in front of the case was a strange egyptian man. He wore robes and a white turban. Instinctually, Yami did not trust this man.<p>

Though, he had no reason to believe that this stranger was a danger to Yugi; it was likely the turban that caused him to feel unease. Turbans were, at this point, a sure sign of evil in the spirit's mind. The foe he faced the previous year had worn one. The man also wore golden earrings and a golden key around his neck.

Yugi frowned in thought, where had he heard that before? It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite place where he had heard of someone with that description.

Yami observed the man suspiciously. His face showed no emotion, and he stared unblinkingly at the mummy. It was at that moment he noticed that the man was crying. If that was not creepy, he honestly did not know what was. '_We should go, before he notices us.'_ He suggested. He did not like the vibes he got from this man and especially from the key around his neck.

Yugi nodded in agreement and started backing away. If Yami hadn't been so rightfully paranoid, he might have asked the man why he was crying. But, he was with Yami on this one. This guy screamed 'Stranger Danger'.

They were almost out of the man's line of sight before be turned and noticed them. The strange egyptian did a double take at Yugi's appearance, this was the normal reaction most people had to his hair. Then he trained his gaze on the Puzzle, and that seemed to surprise him, if only vaguely. This guy did not show much emotion. So it was hard to tell how surprised he actually was.

Either way, it creeped him out. Yugi quickly ducked around one of the big display cases, and bumped into Seto. "What are you doing?" Mokuba asked interestedly.

"Nothing, nothing." Yugi said distractedly. "There was this creepy guy back there." He headed to another part of the exhibit.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "How is that 'nothing'?" The Slytherin asked as his brother followed the diminutive wizard. He peered around the corner Yugi had come from, but did not see anyone. He frowned and headed after his friend and brother. "What did this guy look like?"

"He was tall, wore a turban, and a lot of gold, why?" Yugi explained, looking around in case the guy had followed them. But upon seeing nothing he sighed in relief.

"Well for one, I didn't see anyone back there. And for two, was there by chance, a gold key?" Seto asked, already having an idea of who Yugi had seen

Yugi blinked. "How did you know?"

"Hermione described someone exactly like that last year." The CEO reminded. "This guy just _happens_ to turn up around the group twice? I think we should start being concerned about that." Seto was not a believer of coincidences. Once was unfortunate, twice was a pattern.

Yami nodded in agreement, Seto was right. They needed to be on the lookout for this guy, if he showed up again they'd have to confront him. Knowing their group, that would result in something incredibly dangerous and vaguely traumatizing.

Yugi sighed. "Yami thinks you're right, so we'll be on our guard. But let's just hope we don't see that creep again, or for a while at least." If they saw that guy anytime soon, he'd probably freak out. Because that would definitely mean they were being stalked.

The next day the archaeologist that was responsible for the new exhibit was found dead in his office. He died from a heart attack

* * *

><p>Back at Hogwarts, the library has become home to an unlikely duo, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had spent the last few days pouring over books on magical creatures. Annoyed that Hermione's worrying about Slytherin's monster was distracting her from their duels, Draco had agreed to help her do research on creatures with the ability to petrify people.<p>

They had a pretty short list so far, the Basilisk, the Cocatrice, and a Svartalfar. "I know you're trying to come up with a theory Granger, but, I don't see how any of these creatures could get around without being seen." Draco frowned, looking up from the thick book he was reading.

"You'd be surprised what goes on here without being seen." Hermione said lightly, not bothering to turn her eyes away from the book in her lap. She turned a page. "Besides, we can think about how its getting around once we figure out what it is."

"You make it sound so simple." Draco sighed. "It's not. You've been hanging around Potter too long." He shook his head, returning to his book.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, really? He is one of my best friends after all." She had been more determined than ever to figure out what the mystery of the chamber was. Any one of the muggleborn members of the group could be the next target. She wanted to stop it before it got that far. If one of her friends got hurt because she was not smart enough, she would never forgive herself.

Draco scowled but says nothing more, realizing that the current conversation was over. '_Very good, he can be taught!'_ The voice chimed in, giving its unwanted opinion as always. It had been around much more recently, and he honestly could not say he completely hated it's company. Sometimes it had some insightful, if not funny commentary.

He tuned it out though, he needed to concentrate on what he was reading, not have a conversation with someone who wasn't really there. Especially not around Granger, he knew that hearing voices was not a good thing in either of their worlds. He waited for a moment, expecting the voice to make a comment on how he cared about her opinion, but it did not come. It must have gone into one of it's random bouts of silence.

Though if he were honest, he agreed with her plan to figure out what the monster was, and tell their heads of house so that they could prepare accordingly. Though he had his doubts that they could do something that no one in history had ever done. Uncovering a mystery that dated back to the time of the founders, it was practically a pipe dream for second years like them.

Despite that, they fell into a comfortable silence, immersing themselves in their research. The silence was broken not half an hour later by Harry and Ryou. Harry runs right up to them, smacking his hands on the table to get their attention. Ryou almost passes out from running, leaning against a bookcase and breathing heavily.

Hermione stared at them. "What happened to you two?" She asked, looking like she regretted it immediately afterward. "You don't have to answer that." the witch added quickly, deciding that she did not really want to know.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ryou and I were just at Hagrids, he was just taken away by the Minister and Malfoy's Father!" He completely missed the fact that Draco was right there. "And get this, they think he's the heir!" The Gryffindor Golden Boy sounded scandalized

Hermione stared at Harry like he had grown a second head and started reciting shakespeare. "Hagrid, are you sure? They can't possibly think it was him!" She knew Hagrid, and Hagrid would never hurt anyone, least of all students.

"He's sure, I was there." Ryou said between breaths. "I, am never, doing that, again." He was not out of shape my any means. But running from Hagrid's hut all the way to the library would wear anyone out. Although it seemed that Harry was the exception to that, as usual. "Hagrid told us to follow the spiders if we had any questions before they took him away."

"Follow the spiders, what kind of advice is that?" Draco asked. "It sounds like a load of rubbish to me." Secretly he was worried, what was his father doing, getting the groundkeeper arrested? What was Hagrid's connection to the last time the chamber was opened? He would have to owl his mother with his inquiry later. She would know, his mother knew even more than his father did about Hogwarts school.

Harry scowled. "It's not rubbish, Hagrid has never lead us wrong yet. I trust him, we all do." He knew it was true so he did not bother with asking Hermione and Ryou's opinions. Hagrid was their friend, and their group stuck with their friends no matter what.

Ryou nodded in agreement, not having the energy to argue. Hagrid meant well, even if everything he said was not entirely true for them. Hagrid tended to think that methods that worked for him would work for them as well. But there was a very big difference between the group of second years and the grown man. These were differences that they all tended to overlook at times, he had a feeling this was going to be one of those times. Strangely, that did not worry him as much as it should have. He had definitely been spending too much time around Harry lately.


	19. Dear Diary

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Months pass in a blur, on Valentines day, that changes for the worst. Lockhart's plan to bring up school moral had gone horribly wrong, causing a cupid uprising and the male population of the school to go blind from blinding amounts of pink.<p>

In an attempt to escape the madness, Hermione sought refuge in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. A unused girls bathroom that housed the depressed spirit of a teenage girl. She sighed in relief when she noticed that Myrtle was not there at the moment, possibly sleeping. She leaned against one of the sinks, and tried to erase the memories of the chaos from her mind. Cupids everywhere, trashing the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom in their mad rampage.

Not to mention the seventh year girls banning together to fight them off, it was like the epic fangirl wars she'd only heard about online. Especially when the sixth year girls started fighting each other other who got to give Professor Lockhart their valentine first. Fifth years were trying to cook up love potion in one of the old potions labs. She'd never seen Snape so angry.

Hexes were flying and people were screaming and Lockhart was cowering in his office from the chaos. This was a Valentines Day that she would never forget, stuck in her memories forever. She dearly wished she knew how to perform those memory charms she had read about. Then she'd never have to remember this day once it was over. It was enough to put her off romance forever.

She takes a closer look at her surroundings, and notices that the floor was wet. Myrtle must have flooded the bathroom again. That was nothing new. She paced the bathroom with a frown, debating whether or not to join her friends hiding out in the hospital wing. They had all gone partially blind as soon as they entered the great hall that morning.

The entire place had been covered in pink from head to toe. The walls, and floors were bright bubblegum pink. The tables were a darker shade, and someone had even messed with the spell on the ceiling, causing it to display a pink and orange sunset rather than the stormy day outside. Rose petals had fallen from the ceiling instead of ran in a thick torrent. Apparently a poor third year hufflepuff girl had been allergic to roses, it had not been a pretty sight.

As she got closer to the back of the room, she saw that there was a small black book on the floor. It was wet, but not all that damaged. which was odd because this was the side of the room that was the wettest.

She leaned down and carefully picked it up, wondering how the thin leather cover had managed to protect the pages inside. She didn't know how long it had been lying there, but considering its condition, it could not have been too long. Curiously she flipped through the pages, surprised to find them all blank. The inside of the cover had a name written on it, T.M Riddle. It must be a journal of some sort.

She goes back to the sinks and sets the book down on the edge of one. She debates with herself for a moment, and pulls out her wand. She curiously cast a couple of spells to reveal hidden words or invisible ink, only for none of them to work. It was simply a blank journal. "How strange." She mused, pulling a quill and an inkpot from her book bag. Whoever had left it here clearly had not wanted it in the first place, if they were going to leave it in a flooded bathroom. Plus she could use a place to vent her frustrations about Professor Lockhart's celebration turned catastrophe.

Hermione sat down near the door, where the floor was dryest. She propped open the journal and dipped her quill into the ink. She paused, the quil hovering above the page as she thought of how to word what she wanted to say. A blot of ink dripped onto the page, and after a moment, it vanished. She dropped her quill in surprise. How was that possible? What kind of magic was able to do that?

A hundred possibilities ran around her mind, but that all came to a screeching halt. Writing in an unfamiliar handwriting was appearing in the journal.

Hello, my name is Tom Riddle, a student at Hogwarts Fifty Years ago. Who are you?

The writing was quick, deliberate, the style neat and refined. A stark contrast to her own precise cursive, or Harry's messy scrawl. It was as if the diary itself was writing to her, a sort of magical AI. She had flung it across the room in surprise, not expecting that.

She stared after it quizzically, was it possible for there to be a such thing? There must be, because It had written to her, the enchanted journal had written to her. This was without a doubt the freakiest thing that had ever happened to her. She stared at the corner she had thrown the journal for a moment, before curiosity got the best of her. She walked over and picked it up. She sat back down and picked up her quill.

If Tom Riddle was a student here fifty years ago, then he must know something about the chamber. That was more than enough reason to interact with it. At least she thought it was. "My name is, Hermione Granger. What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?" She needed to know, that was all that mattered. Knowing the mystery of the chamber was even more important than exams, because if the hier wasn't stopped, there wouldn't be any exams!

Her writing faded into the journal. She held her breath in anticipation, there was a long pause, and for a moment, she thought that he wasn't going to answer her. What a disappointment that would be. To have the answers dangled in front of her and then pulled from her reach like cat with her toy.

I know who opened it.

This time the writing was hesitant at first, and then quick, as if they were telling her something that she wasn't supposed to know. Like he was about to divulge a crucial secret that he had told no one else.

Hermione grinned, this was it! This was the information they needed! This could be the lead that cracks the case wide open. She could save her friends with this information. "Tell me!" She scribbled her reply as soon as his writing had faded into the pages. Her writing was uncharacteristically messy as she wrote out her demand.

There was another pause, and when the reply appeared, she frowned. She just imagined Riddle smirking mischievously as she read. As if she had fallen into his trap

Why tell you, when I can show you?

She raised an eyebrow, not sure what he meant. She lifted her quill to ask, but suddenly the book split apart at the seams, a white vortex appearing from it. She was sucked in before she could so much as scream. The diary closed itself, falling to the ground silently next to her school bag.

* * *

><p>Hermione burst into the common room and raced toward where the group was gathered in a corner. She slapped the diary down in the middle of the table. No one paid her any attention, they were all too busy dealing with the aftermath of Lockhart's failure.<p>

"This, this magic diary just told me who was framed for opening the chamber fifty years ago." Hermione hissed, so quiet that Seto and Ron almost missed it. "The person who opened the chamber was unfairly punished because there was no way he could have done it."

Harry sent her an unamused look, at least he thought it was Hermione, it was either her or Seto. "Well spill alread! Who was framed?" He demanded excitedly, this could be it! Framed or not, it was still a lead. Though it would he hard to follow up on at the moment, he was still pretty blinded by the great hall, and he'd be picking rose petals out of his hair for weeks.

She knocked Ron out of his chair and sat down in it tiredly. "It was Hagrid. Hagrid was framed for opening the chamber fifty years ago and killing a girl." Hermione said softly. It had come as a shock, a horrible shock. But once her head was clear, she knew that it could not be Hagrid. If it had been, Professor Dumbledore would not have let him stay at Hogwarts. But now they knew why he had been expelled in the first place.

Ron scowled at Hermione for stealing his chair. "Hagrid? Who in their right mind would frame Hagrid for anything?" He asked, getting comfortable on the ground. He couldn't see well enough to bother pulling up another chair.

Ryou shook his head, he was the only one of the boys with decent eyesight right now. For some reason he had been lucky enough not to get blinded at breakfast. He bad been getting some strange looks from Hannah and Susan, which was why he had faked blindness and hidden out with the rest of the group in the hospital wing all day.

Yugi recoiled from the diary in horror. His red eyes trained on it as if it was a time bomb about to go off. Hermione did a double take, that was not Yugi, it was Yami! Why would the diary cause Yami to take control like that? "Yami, are you okay?" She asked cautiously.

"That diary is seeping with dark magic." Yami hissed. "We can not trust anything it says, none of us should write in it, especially not you Hermione. You have already been exposed to it. Put that thing away and we will turn it into a teacher tomorrow." He did not want that thing anywhere near Yugi or their friends any longer than it had to be. Curfew was in a couple minutes, there was no time to go and find a teacher to hand in the thing before them.

Hermione frowned, she trusted Yami a great deal considering the situation. But she was not sure why he was so upset. Though it looked like the rest of the group was ready to agree with him, so she nodded. "You should keep it, you're more prepared to handle dark magic then I am." She slid the diary across the table.

Yami caught it, and glared at the cover for a moment, before getting up and heading for the dorms. He walked into the doorway instead of through it. Yugi's eyes were not the best right now. He had to practically cling to the banister as he climbed the stairs.

While everyone was watching the blinded spirit, there was a soft flash from under Ryou's shirt. "Let me help." He offered, following Yami. He rolled his eyes as Yami almost fell down the stairs due to lack of depth perception. No one noticed his hair was a little wilder, or how his voice was a little bit harsher.

The next morning, Tom Riddle's Diary was missing. Nothing was moved, everything was just as Yami had left it that night. Except the diary, someone had stolen it in the middle of the night.

* * *

><p>Long before any members of the group would wake up.<p>

Bakura glared at the diary, there was no doubt about it, this was the dark magic he had sensed back on Halloween. He picked it up and stabbed it through with a pocket knife. When he pulled the knife out, there wasn't even a scratch. He threw it on the ground and kicked it across the room.

Over the course of the last hour, he had tried to burn it, drown it, rip it, and now, cut it. All of these things had failed. He was growing increasingly frustrated as his efforts to destroy the threat to his plans all failed miserably. He was starting to hate wizard magic, it was certainly more infuriating than shadow magic had been back when he was alive.

He scowled, glaring after the book as if he could destroy it with force of will alone. The great thief king, bested by a mere book. He had truly reached the lowest point in his career.

Bakura stalked over to it and picked it up. He would destroy this thing later, the sun was coming up, and classes would be starting in a couple of hours. He shoved the book into Ryou's bag, hidden among his books. It would be suspicious if Ryou was awake before Hermione and Seto.

He walked the body back to the dorm room, avoiding Filch and his cat on the way. He barked the password at the woman in the portrait and climbed the stairs to his landlord's dorm. He flopped onto the bed before shoving Ryou back into control and retreating to his soul room. Even thief kings needed rest once in awhile.

He was pretty sure that Ryou wouldn't find the book before he woke up. His Landlord could be pretty oblivious at times.

* * *

><p>When Bakura awakens he wastes no time in reclaiming their body. He looked around, noticing that they were in charms class, they had that after History of Magic.<p>

He leaned down and opened his landlords bookbag. He searched around for the diary, but found nothing. He searched through Ryou's memories, discovering that it had been lost when his host had been knocked down and the contents his bag had gone everywhere.

In the few hours he had been asleep, his host had lost the one chance they had of stopping these attacks for good. At least, the one chance they had of doing it without anyone ending up in the hospital wing. The minimum risk course of action was out of the question now. They'd have to play things Potter and the Pharaoh's way now. That was not going to be fun, he knew that much.

Bakura sighed and glanced at the notes his landlord had been taking during the lecture. He couldn't make heads or tales of them. Motou was busy taking notes, the Pharaoh nowhere to be seen, Granger was in a learning trance, and Longbottom had just knocked over his inkpot. Potter and Weasley were passing notes.

He rolled his eyes, as much as he had grown used to them, his landlord's friends were either idiots, or too smart for their own good. Either one of those things could get them, and by extension Ryou, killed at any given moment.

On the note of getting them all killed, maybe he should start considering letting Ryou in on his plans. That might reduce the amount of times the Gryffindor unintentionally screwed them up. Considering the issue was that his host had not even known that he had the diary in the first place. Perhaps if he had known he would have been more careful.

* * *

><p>Despite multiple searches, none of them could find the diary again. Frustrated by this, Hermione buried herself in research, that's where she found herself now.<p>

In the library almost literally buried in parchment and books on a beautiful April Day. She could feel it, this was it, she was on the verge of figuring out what Slytherin's famed monster was, and how it was getting around undetected. She scanned the book in front of her hurriedly, barely processing the information in excitement.

"Shouldn't you be out at the pitch?" Draco asked, startling her as he came around from one of the shelves. "Big Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match today. Potter said he was going down earlier didn't he? Shouldn't you be with the rest of your group playing 'bodyguard'? Protecting scarhead from all the Parsel-hate he's been getting?" All of this was said in his signature drawl. He had been told it was irritating by several people, but it was not like he could turn it off.

Harry had been getting a lot of trouble for being a Parselmouth lately, even if there had been no more attacks since before christmas. People still seemed to think that Harry was to blame. just because Harry could talk to snakes, that didn't mean he was the one controlling Slytherin's monster.

Hermione froze. Parselmouth, Harry was a Parselmouth. He had heard a snake, a snake in the walls, on Halloween. "THAT'S IT! Malfoy you're a GENIUS!" She shrieked, jumping up from her seat and bolting from the library at top speeds. In the process she knocked papers and books everywhere.

Draco ran after her. "I know I'm a genius, but why did you suddenly realize it?" He asked curiously. More surprised that Hermione could run so quickly then he was at her declaration.

She stopped a corner to catch her breath."The monster, It's a Basilisk!" Hermione said excitedly. The almost the entire school was already down at the pitch, waiting for the game to begin. No one was there to hear her but him. "It's been getting around through the pipes, the walls!" She rounded the corner, and he lost sight of her.

He ran down to the entrance hall. He stopped in the doorway to catch his breath. Running that fast in school robes down several flights of stairs, was not his brightest idea. But, he needed to tell Potter, they had to know.

He assumed Granger had gone to tell the headmaster, who wasn't attending the game. Most other teachers were, though he wondered how Granger knew where the headmasters office was. But that wasn't what was important right now. He left the school and stopped outside the door. Was he really going to try and run all the way down to the pitch? It was a long way.

Draco sighed and started walking. He wondered why he was even bothering. It was frankly none of his business, he wasn't a half blood or muggleborn. He didn't have to worry about anyone he cared about getting petrified. Although that wasn't entirely true, he cared, at least a little bit, about Granger.

But only in the sense that she was his rival. He was determined to beat her in something, anything, duel monsters in particular was something he wanted to be better than her at. Seeing as she clearly had him beat in the academic department. Considering she didn't fly he couldn't even count his Quidditch ability as something he was better at. He'd never seen her in the air after all. Draco shook his head as he approached the pitch. He didn't need to be thinking like that. Not right now of all times.

He had to find Potter's group. It wasn't that hard, Motou stood out like a unicorn in a pack of thestrals. he headed towards where the group usually sat during games, between the Gryffindor and Slytherin decorated stands.

As he approached them, he noticed that Potter and Bakura were missing. He sat down in one of the seats behind and then tapped Motou on the shoulder to get their attention.

"What is is Malfoy?" Yugi asked in concern, Draco never talked to them when Hermione wasn't around. So he was naturally worried.

Draco opened his mouth to explain, and was immediately cut off by McGonagall's voice, clearly amplified by a spell. "Quidditch has been cancelled for the remainder of the year, all students please return to their dormitories. No exceptions! There has been another attack."

The blond went pale, realizing what that could mean. Seto climbed over the back of the stands and dragged him towards the exit, the rest of the crowd being herded by teachers and prefects. He broke free from Seto and fights his way through the crowd over to Motou. He pulls the Gryffindor aside.

"Listen closely because this is important." Draco hissed. "Granger figured out what Slytherin's monster is." He said quickly, holding a hand up before Motou could speak. "It's getting around through the pipes, according to her. It's a Basilisk. Giant snake that kills with it's eyes. Only petrifies if you see its reflection." He answered the unasked question. It was known to him, but Motou was a Muggleborn, it made sense that he wouldn't know the specifics of a Basilisk's gaze.

Seto suddenly appeared from the crowd around them and dragged him off. A few minutes later he would realize he had been letting himself get herded towards the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

><p>Harry and Ryou don't show up to the Gryffindor common room until later that afternoon. Surprisingly, no one had even noticed they were gone other than their friends. How that had happened, Yami wouldn't say. The Spirit had probably done something with shadow magic to stop panic from breaking out among the teachers.<p>

"Where were you?" Ron demanded angrily as soon as he saw them. "You should have been here!" He had been really worried for them. With a Basilisk running around, and several of his closest friends being muggleborn, he was becoming pretty paranoid. Plus what had happened earlier, he had thought for a while that it might have been Ryou who had been attacked, or worse, Harry!

"We went into the forest with my cloak." Harry explained. "We noticed odd things going on with the spiders and followed them in there, like Hagrid had said to. We got lead to this giant talking spider named Aragog." He trailed off at the angry looks he was getting from Neville and Ron. Yugi simply looked curious.

They had clearly missed something important. Ryou picked up where Harry had left off. "He told us that Hagrid was for sure innocent, and that he wasn't the monster from the chamber, but he was the creature from Hermione saw in the diary." The white haired boy explained. "From what he told us we also figured out that Moaning Myrtle was the girl mentioned in the diary as well." The kind gryffindor motioned for Harry to explain the rest.

"We also think we can figure out where the entrance to the Chamber is from how she died." Harry said. "We went and asked before coming here. Why should we have been here? What did we miss?" He asked in concern. The way Ron and Neville had reacted, it was going to be bad he was starting to panic.

Yami took over from Yugi somberly. "Hermione managed to figure out what was causing the attacks. A Basilisk, it's been traveling through the pipes to avoid detection." He said cautiously, not sure how to say the next part without causing them to faint.

Harry frowned in confusion. "Then shouldn't we be celebrating, why is everyone so upset? What else is there?" He asked with growing fear. This could not be good, it was probably the opposite of good. This was going to be bad, Yami was trying to beat around the bush, sugar coat it. Yami never did that.

"What happened?" Ryou asked quietly, preparing for the worst.

"Hermione was Petrified." Yami said gently.

Harry leaned against a wall in shock. "That, that definitely makes our near death experience in the forest seem like nothing." He said shakily, trying not to show how upset he was.

**Note!**

**And here's where things start to get really rushed, plot-wise I mean.**


	20. Trials and Tribulations Pt1

**"Japanese" (Only used when speaking Japanese in a usually English speaking setting)**

_'Thoughts/Mindlink'_

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Several weeks pass in a blur, the group falls apart within a few days, Ryou and Harry spending more and more time together, Neville with Ginny and Luna, and Ron with Seto and Yugi. Each of them coping in their own ways. The good news is, the Mandrakes will be ready in a month. Hermione would be back on her feet in no time.<p>

But that does not change the fact that they could not protect her. Hermione was a core member of their group, the level headed one who was not blinded by pride like Seto was at times. She could always be counted on to provide a smarter alternative to their harebrained schemes. The strategist that did not have to sneak into their common room every day without permission.

Ron and Harry were still as close as ever, but Ron had the same methods of coping as Seto and Yugi. Playing against two people who were infinitely better than him at strategy games gave him something to think about other than Hermione.

Neville faded in and out of the group before, and without Hermione or Ryou to include him. He preferred to spend his time with the younger members of the group, neither of them had been as close to Hermione as the others. So they were dealing with the situation considerably better than the rest of their friends.

Harry and Ryou had been throwing themselves into the conspiracy portion of their year. They had a lot of the keys to the puzzle. But the hard part was putting them together in a cohesive manner. All they needed to figure out was where the entrance to the chamber was. Then everything would come together. But doing that was easier said than done. And Harry, being Harry, the idea of telling the teachers what they knew never even crossed his mind. As it was, no one had seen them in a couple of hours, nor did anyone have an idea of where they had gone.

In this moment, to take their minds off the situation, Seto and Yugi were playing chess in the library. At the groups usual table. Seto had won five games in a row now, Yugi was trying to come up with a strategy to beat the CEO. But all of his attempts had lead to failure. But it was not enough to discourage the shorter duelist. That was part of the fun for him, finding a way to win. It was good to challenge himself like this. As Seto was the only person he knew so far who could do so.

Several minutes into a new game, Ron approached the two. His movements were jerky and sporadic, like a marionette being controlled by invisible strings. His expression was oddly blank, and his eyes were glassy and unfocused. Yugi frowned. "Ron, is something wrong?" Maybe the ginger should go to the hospital wing. Of all of them he and Harry had taken Hermione's petrification the worst. Yugi would not be surprised if Ron was losing sleep over it, Harry had been. Ryou had been forced to drag the Gryffindor to the dorm just the other night at almost one in the morning.

The red head completely ignored Yugi's question, it wa as if he hadn't even heard it. "Yugi, can you come with me to the Astronomy Tower?" Ron asked, his voice flat, mechanical, almost robotic. It was like he was replaying a message instead of asking a question. The red head then turned around, knocking over a stack of books and his head lolling at an unusual angle. He left without another word.

Seto frowned, sending a suspicious look after the Gryffindor. He had read a book on possession before, in an attempt to understand the relationship between Yugi and Yami. Right now, Ron was showing all the classic signs of someone being possessed against their will. But it didn't look like the Imperious curse, that one was far less obvious. This was a more arcane method of possession.

Yugi frowned in concern. He stood up to follow Ron, but Seto stopped him. "Don't, that's not Ron." The Slytherin stared after where their friend had gone with a frown. "I think he's been possessed." It was just a theory, it could easily be a byproduct of depression or some other, less outlandish thing.

The other duelist gasped. "He's been what? By who, and why?" Yugi had no trouble believing that was what happened to Ron. Considering Yami took control of his body at least once a day, it stood to reason that there were more malicious forms of possession.

It occurred to him that he should really do some research on how possession worked in the first place. He knew little to nothing about how it worked, other than what happened between Himself and Yami. Which was a very unusual form of possession, according to Hermione and Seto. He didn't even need to think twice about it, possession definitely explained Ron's strange behavior just now.

"I don't know, nor do we know for sure if he's actually been possessed." Seto said. "But whoever they are, if there actually is a 'they'. They're targeting you or Harry. We need more information before we just rush into this." He added, but by then Yugi was already gone. He hissed something under his breath about impulsive Gryffindors and followed his friend. If he had to be the one to stop Yugi from looking like a fool if he was wrong. Or worse, rushing right into a trap, then so be it.

Yugi was not the most athletic of the group, better with his hands then his feet, and his height didn't help matters. He wasn't moving all that fast as a result. But he had to try, if Seto was right, and he usually was, Ron was in trouble. With Harry missing in action and Ron under some mystery persons control, he wasn't going to waste any time debating the issue. Someone had to save Ron, and if it wasn't going to be Harry, it would have to be him and Yami.

Yami floated after Yugi with a frown. This entire situation felt, wrong. It wasn't like what they had faced last year, nor what they had ever faced before. If Ron was truly possessed then this was a setup. A trap, a situation in which he was not in control. That worried him. He had always had some semblance of control in the past. A way to ensure his own victory. But now, when having to play by someone elses rules, could they still prevail? The Spirit shook his head. Now was now the time to think like that. If he doubted himself, or Yugi, then they would be doomed from the start.

Seto caught up rather quickly, before he had even left the library in fact. Yugi didn't want Seto to get involved. One of their friends being in danger was more than enough. He wished he knew more shortcuts, but even if he did, Seto had the advantage of having longer legs and being much faster than him. He did not want to have sense talked into him, he did not have time for that. Every minute he waited was a minute where Ron was in danger.

The Slytherin wasn't letting Yugi out of his sights, blocking the library exit so Yugi could not get through. Yugi tended to forgo all logic and reasoning when one of his friends was in danger. "Yugi listen to me, you need to calm down. We should tell a teacher, we don't have to deal with this ourselves, in case you've forgotten, we're just kids." Seto snapped. His friends, though he loved them, always tended to forget that they were not heroes or warriors, they were kids at a school. Unlucky kids, but still just kids.

Yugi crossed his arms and glared at the taller wizard. "No way, if we bring teachers into this, Ron could be in even more danger. Yami and I can handle this." He insisted. Yugi was worried that if they brought in someone else, whoever had possessed Ron would hurt him, or worse. They could not take that risk, no matter what. They may not be Harry Potter, but Yami was more than capable of dealing with whatever situation occurred.

"Maybe." Seto agreed. "But we don't even know if Ron's actually possessed. Though if you're so determined to go after him, you'll have to get past me." He challenged, there was no way Yugi was getting past him. He knew Yugi, and Luna could throw a better punch then him. Though his plan was also risky. If Yami came out, there was the chance that he'd end up in the hospital wing until the situation was resolved. The Spirit was a lot harder to get through to then Yugi was.

Something in Yugi's expression changed. His stubborn frown disappearing into a thoughtful one, his eyes no longer held the frustration that they did seconds before. Seto recognized that look. It was the same look Yugi sported when they were dueling. The surprisingly shrewd look of a master gamer. This was bad. Yugi could be surprisingly crafty when he wanted to be. He had to be, all duelists were.

Seto glanced around the library, they had caused quite a scene just now. Luckily most people were holed up in their common rooms. They hadn't been banned from leaving them, but most were too scared to do so. Madame Pince was somewhere in the restricted section, reorganizing. They hadn't been overheard but they definitely needed to make less of a spectacle of themselves in the future.

Yugi took a few steps back and looked around. _'Yami, how are we going to get passed him?'_ He asked, trying to come up with a plan while Seto was still distracted. Thankfully luck was on their side and they didn't have to do anything. Seto had to step out of the way to let some sixth year Ravenclaws through. Before Seto could stop them, Yugi ran out of the library and towards the astronomy tower as fast as he could.

* * *

><p>Through a bout of luck, and several shortcuts, Yugi made it to the astronomy tower before Seto. He slammed the door slammed shut behind him. After a moment of debating with himself, he locked it. He was going to get a lot of grief for this later, but Seto wasn't going to get involved if he had anything to say about it. He was certain now, that Ron was being possessed, he didn't want anyone to get hurt.<p>

He turned around, and almost had a heart attack. Ron was standing on the edge of the tower, perfectly balanced on the edge. Strong winds blowing his hair every which way, he stood there like a statue, his expression as blank as one. It was like he didn't even know where he was right now. "Ron!" He ran forward to drag Ron back from the edge, only to be stopped by a voice.

"Calm yourself, he is in no danger." To the side was the man from the Museum, his robes billowing ominously in the wind. Seto was right, they should have been more concerned about that guy. His heart was beating like a drum, and he vaguely wondered how the man had even found Hogwarts. He had read somewhere that only wizards could find the school. Did that mean this man was a wizard? But a better question was how he had gotten inside the castle and possessed Ron. "He will only jump if you refuse the test."

Yugi felt Yami's fury in time for control to be wrenched from him. "Who are you? Why are you threatening us?" The spirit demanded furiously. He felt the shadows rising, there was magic in the air, and it was not Wizard Magic.

This man's test must be a Yami no Game. If that was the case, he would face it with dignity and skill. No one threatened the lives of someone close to Yugi. He may have mellowed down considerably in the year he had been awake. But nothing infuriated him faster than what this man was doing now. The puzzle glowed brightly, as if displaying it's master's anger to the world.

The man took a step back, apparently surprised by Yami's appearance. He quickly regained his composure though. "I am Shadi, the guardian of the Millennium Items. You must be tested to prove you are worthy of the Millennium Puzzle." His voice was flat, without emotion, yet still threatening. It was extremely off putting.

Yami glared at Shadi, his blood red eyes brimming with fury. "And if we refuse, you kill our friend. We hardly have a choice in the matter." It took his brain a moment to process the other part of what had been said. His anger melted away to confusion within minutes. "There are more Millennium Items?" He asked in puzzlement. He had thought that the Puzzle was the only one of its kind. There had been no indication that there was more before now.

Shadi nodded, though seemed confused by the fact that Yami didn't already know this. "There are seven in all. I have guarded the Millennium Items for centuries, testing their bearers worth. If you are found unworthy, you will perish." How someone could say that with a straight face, and completely serious was alarming.

Yami frowned, this was bad, Yami no Games were dangerous normally, but this was something completely different from the games he had played in the past. Yugi's friends had not been in danger then, and he had been in control. Yami hated not feeling like he was in control. It made him feel powerless. Maybe he was powerless, but he had no choice. He had to beat Shadi's test, there was no other option. Failure was unthinkable, they would pass with flying colors, and make Shadi pay.

He caught sight of the key around Shadi's neck. That must be one of the six other items. That had to be how he had possessed Ron and why the shadows were circling them in excitement. The shadows loved games, and to them, this proved to be the most entertaining one since Yami's awakening.

The air was so thick with magic it was almost suffocating. There was more than one type in the air now, Yugi's wizard magic intermingling with his shadow magic. He recalled that young wizards could cause bouts of accidental magic if they grew too emotional. Yugi was definitely upset enough to set that off. Thankfully it was calming down, likely because Yugi was not in control right now.

The wind grew stronger, blowing his unnatural hair spikes every which way. His dark purple hoodie billowing out behind him dramatically. The shadows went still with anticipation and the very air itself seemed to stop as he stared down his opponent.

"Very well, Shadi. I accept your test." Yami said, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the shadows swarmed, covering the tower in a black and purple dome. He watched as they climbed into the air and covered the entire tower. The stone beneath his feet turned a bright sandy color and the tower grew in size, creating a large space as big as the Quidditch Pitch. Walls sprung up around them, bright yellow in color and designed like a colosseum.

The bright colors of their surrounds were offset by the swirly black and purple dome above them. He could feel the shadows weighing down on his shared soul. Taking his eyes off the new scenery, he glanced over at Ron, who hadn't moved, nor did he appear to have noticed the change at all. He had to end this fast. According to his studies, humans couldn't last very long in the shadow realm.

He didn't want the shadows to devour their friend because they weren't fast enough. He shared identical looks of determination with Yugi's invisible form. His partner was right next to him for this one. This was one shadow game, where he wouldn't have to fight alone. Yami was grateful for that, this game had their highest stakes yet. He needed Yugi's support now more than ever.

Yami noted shadows out of the corner of his eye, shadows that looks suspiciously like Duel Monsters. The Puzzle flashed in warning and the shadows vanished in fear. They were deep in the Shadow Realm now, this was a dangerous place. Full of monsters and the souls of the damned, even the most skilled had to tread carefully here. Fitting that this would be the place for their most dangerous encounter yet. Somehow, Yami felt that this was only the beginning of his and Yugi's problems.

Both spirit and host glared at Shadi with determination and apprehension. Their surroundings had settled and the game was about to begin. In that moment, they were of one mind, of one body, it was as if they had merged into one being. Their voices echoed around each other as they said in perfect unison. "It's game time!"

* * *

><p>Seto had just unlocked the door to the Astronomy Tower with Alohomora, when the shadows swarmed. He was treated to a look at Yami facing down a man in white robes and a turban before shadows obscured his view. He tried to force his way through the dark barrier before him, but they wouldn't budge. He glared at the black and purple wall in frustration, five minutes, he loses sight of Yugi for five minutes, and he gets himself in a game of death!<p>

He slammed the door shut and spun around, stalking back towards the library. He had to find the others. Yami was going to need some kind of support once he got out of this. Though there was the possibility of Yami not winning he didn't want to think like that. It would infect the rest of the group and cause a panic that would help no one.

He makes it to the library as quickly as possible without running, and searches it, only to find none of his friends there. He frowned and tried to remember if it was today or tomorrow when the password for the Gryffindor Common Room would change. He headed towards the portrait hole. He wasn't going to run all the way there though, the distance between the two locations was way too far to do that.

He walked briskly, and found Neville and Luna on their way to the library. She was leaning against the Gryffindor, and shaking. As he got closer, he realized she was crying. "Where are Harry and Ryou?" Seto demanded, ignoring Luna for the moment. He needed to tell everyone, not just them. Luna crying didn't fully register in his mind, and therefore he ignored it.

Neville was comforting her quietly. He glared at Seto for being insensitive. "We don't know, we haven't seen them since we got the news." He knew Seto didn't know, he had been in the library all day with Yugi, but it was still really bad. Luna wasn't taking it well at all.

Seto paused. "What news, did something happen?" Then it hit him, Luna never cried, why would she be crying? She was usually so collected. This was bad, for Luna to be so distraught, something incredibly game changing must have happened while he was gone. Everything always happened all at once with them, this time of the year especially. Ryou and Harry were unaccounted for, Ron and Yugi were in a Yami no Game, Neville and Luna were right here, Hermione was petrified, that left only one member of their group. "What happened to Ginny?" He asked cautiously. It was actually a good thing that Ron was possessed right now. The second youngest Weasley would go nuts if Ginny was in danger.

"She's been taken to the Chamber, the heir kidnapped her." Neville said, distraught. "Why do you need to know where Harry and Ryou are? Where's Ron, does he know?" The other boy was working himself into a panic, a warranted one, but a useless one. Seto didn't have the patience to try and head it off to calm the other boy down. There wasn't time for that. There was hardly time for explanations!

Seto paced the hallway. Where could the two unaccounted for members of their group be? How long had it been since Ginny was taken into the chamber? Weren't those two investigating where the chamber's entrance was? All of this added up to one, incredibly frustrating conclusion.

"Ryou and Harry know about Ginny. Ginny was taken to the chamber, they must have gone after her." He was growing increasingly frustrated with his Gryffindor friends. They were always getting themselves into trouble and running off without telling anyone. "Yami and Ron are in the shadow realm. Playing a game with our stalker." The CEO explained in a clipped tone, clenching his fists and pacing faster.

Of all the times for everything to happen, it had to be the one time he was completely out of the loop. Seto had no way to help Yami because he was in a Yami no Game, and he couldn't help Harry and Ryou because he had no idea where the entrance to the Chamber was.

Suddenly Draco came around the corner, and dragged him away. "Everyone has to go back to their common rooms, someone's been kidnapped by the heir."

"I know." Seto snapped. "Harry and Ryou have gone after her. Yugi and Ron are in the middle of something different entirely." He didn't question why he was telling Draco this. It made sense to in do so in a way. Draco was slowly getting drawn closer into the group, starting with how much time he had been spending with Hermione lately. Running into Harry in Knockturn Alley last summer, taking up Duel monsters, the signs were there. Draco Malfoy was going to get caught up in one of their horrible adventures.

So he might as well know what to expect from the beginning. Less of a shock that way when he ends up in a life threatening situation with Harry or Yugi. Then again that was simplifying the issues of the group, any one of them could end up in a situation like that.

Draco frowned, internally wondering why he was always the last to know these things. His brain registering that Potter and Bakura had found the chamber entrance, and not told anyone. He wanted to ask if they were crazy, but that would be pointless. The entire school already knew they were crazy. Hopefully they didn't die down there. That would definitely cause Hogwarts to be shut down. No matter what his father said about how great the school was, he really didn't want to have to transfer to Durmstrang.

Seto let Draco drag him back to the common room, he waited until the green and black decorated room was full to the bring with students. That was when his disappearance wouldn't be noticed. He had no intention of spending the next several hours in the uninviting room full of backstabbing snakes. He'd much rather spend it with Neville in the Gryffindor Common Room lamenting on how their friends needed to stop getting themselves into life threatening situations.

He casually walked over to the stone wall that was the entrance to the room and attempted to open it. He waited for several minute, and tried again. Nothing happened, he swore under his breath in Japanese.

Apparently Snape had gotten wise to his constant sneaking out and into other common rooms. So their head of house had somehow locked the door. He was trapped. Seto sighed, and then smirked. Oh, he was going to enjoy finding a way around this little trick. Snape would soon learn that no one outsmarted Seto Kaiba.

* * *

><p>Harry glanced around Myrtle's bathroom nervously. He and Ryou had asked Myrtle how she died a while ago, but it hadn't occurred to him that the entrance to the chamber was in her bathroom until today.<p>

They had gone to find it themselves, when they had run into Lockhart. The professor had been on his way out, out of the school that is. Apparently he had been charged with finding and killing Slytherin's monster, because Ginny had been kidnaped by the heir and taken into the chamber. When asked why he was leaving when he had work to do, he admitted that he was a fraud and was going to let Ginny die in the chamber.

Bakura took over from Ryou as soon as they found that out. He had been too freaked out at the time by his friend suddenly attacking Lockhart and throwing the Professor's wand at him to realize right away that it was Bakura instead.

He still had Lockhart's wand on him actually, in his pocket. Bakura had dragged Lockhart down to Myrtle's bathroom with them. Harry had been kind of worried about what would happen if someone saw them doing that, but that wasn't really the issue at the time. Someone was going to save Ginny, and if it wasn't going to be the useless blond author, it was going to be them.

He didn't know exactly where in the bathroom the entrance was. But that's why he was looking for Myrtle. She would at least have a vague idea of where the Basilisk had come from when it killed her. Said ghost girl was hovering uncomfortably close to him, and following him around as he searched the sinks. She had acted like he had just asked her on a date when he had asked her how she died. Her story had indicated the sinks had something to do with the entrance.

Within minutes he had found a sink with a snake on it. He traced it with his finger, frowning. How would he get it to open? Maybe Parseltongue? Since the heir was known for it, that might work. But he couldn't speak snake language at will. Only when talking to a real snake. He just had to try and convince himself that the snake he was looking at was real somehow.

He stared at it intensely for several moments before speaking. **_"Open."_** He hissed lowly, his voice coming out with a strange hissing echo. Suddenly the sinks sunk into the ground to reveal a giant pipe-slide. Before he could suggest going to get Dumbledore, Bakura dragged Lockhart over to the pipe and pushed him down the hole and then did the same with Harry. From what he could tell, Bakura really hated this hier guy for some reason.

Harry screamed at the top of his lungs as he slid down the grimy tunnel, it was like a slippery sewer slide from hell. It was over as soon as it had begun, shooting out of the pipe. His fall was broken by a surprisingly soft landing. He felt a little sick at the realization his fall had been broken by a thick layer of bones. He stood up and looked around. "We must be miles underneath the school!" He commented, bluntly ignoring the hundreds of dead animal bones he was currently standing on. In the corner of his eye he could see Bakura force Lockhart down one of the tunnels. He followed them and they fell into silence, The Spirit of the Ring wasn't one for idle conversation it seemed.

Well that was just fine, he wasn't really down there to talk anyway, he was down there to save one of his best friends little sisters. Though it would be nice if someone said something once in awhile, the silence was starting to get to him once they came across the shedded Basilisk Skin. He stared at it in shock, the realization of the size of the beast he was about to risk fighting hitting him hard. He was such an idiot! There was no way he could take on a Basilisk, even if Bakura was there too.

Before he had any time to react, Lockhart lunged for him, probably to get his wand. There was a flash of golden light, and Lockhart hit the wall across from him. Bakura shot the crumpled form of their teacher an unamused look. "What did you do?" Harry asked, terrified for a moment that Lockhart wasn't breathing.

"I sent his soul to the shadow realm. Suck it up and come one." Bakura motioned for Harry to follow him further into the tunnel. He didn't have time to deal with foolish mortals, the heir was going to pay for all of the frustration it had caused him this year. As well as the torment it had caused his host and his friends.

Harry gulped, throwing Lockhart's wand at his comatose body before following the spirit. Maybe he should be more worried for himself then for Ginny. Just in the short term at least, Bakura was dangerous, though he knew that before. It seemed a bit more obvious now than it had then. He was wondering if he was just naturally unlucky, or if the universe actively sought to make him regret his decisions.

Not long after that they come across a door with many snakes on it. Harry approaches it, looking for a doorknob or something to open it. Bakura rolled his eyes. "Opening with Parseltongue you dolt!" He snapped, in no mood for Potter's lack of common sense.

Harry frowned, but didn't think that pointing out that he couldn't just open it with Parseltongue at will was a good idea. He stared at the snakes, willing them to move in his mind's eye and become real. It took several tense minutes of trying, but he could practically hear them hissing at him now. **_"Open." _**He hissed in the same way he had in Myrtle's bathroom. The door opened with all the ear splitting noise of stone grinding against stone, and opened just as slowly. He covered his ears, the noise painful to him.

As soon as the door is open, they walk inside. As soon as they do, the notice something odd, Ginny was tied up, not that odd. The odd part, was a older boy neither of them had seen before was standing next to Megan Jones, the Hufflepuff that Harry had spoken to a couple of times. She was unconscious, abnormally pale, and barely breathing. The boy was watching them, not a surprise. The door wasn't exactly quiet when it opened, he immediately zeroed in on Harry. "You must be the famous Harry Potter." The teen was totally ignoring Bakura. "Who am I you may ask? I am Tom Riddle." He smirked, bowing mockingly as he introduced himself.

Harry gasped, freezing in shock. "The boy from the Diary! But, how? You're only a memory!" This didn't make any sense, how was Tom Riddle, the brain in the sentient diary standing before them now? Why did he kidnap Ginny, and what did he do to Megan? He had a horrible feeling about this, this was bad, this was way worse than Quirrel was last year.

Tom laughed. "I _was_ only a memory. But now, thanks to Megan, I'm becoming real. She's been writing in me all year you know, pouring her heart and soul into me. And once its all gone, her soul will be gone, and mine will be revived." Tom gloated. "In mere minutes, she'll be dead, and I will live again." He sounded so proud that he had accomplished this. The smug smirk on his face saying more than his words ever could. His smirk morphed into a full out evil grin. "And now, you're here, not only will I be revived, but I get to speak to _you_."

Harry growled. "I don't think so Riddle, I won't let you get away with this! You won't be coming back today!" He wasn't going to let one of his classmates become a sacrifice for some crazy diary. He was definitely regretting not simply telling the teachers everything they knew though. This Riddle guy was a total nutcase, how were they going to beat him? Plus he was the Heir of Slytherin.

Tom completely ignored the fact that Harry had spoken the clichéd line. Or that he had spoken at all really, Instead choosing to continue with his monologue. "I'm glad to finally meet you actually, Harry. You see for a while now I've been wondering, how a mediocre wizard such as you, could defeat the greatest sorcerer who ever lived, as a mere baby." Tom sounded equal parts mocking, and genuinely curious.

He was perplexed by that question; it seemed so random considering the situation. "I don't know how I beat him." Harry snapped. "Why does it matter to you anyway? Voldemort was after your time." He added, a feeling of unease starting to come over him. There had to be a reason Tom brought up Voldemort, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like what that reason was.

Tom laughed. "After my time? How foolish." He started writing in the air with Megan's wand, bright red letters forming his name. With a flick of his wrist, they rearranged themselves. "Lord Voldemort is my past, present, and future." The words 'Tom Marvello Riddle' now spelt, 'I am Lord Voldemort'. Harry stared in shock, having not expected that in any way, he was floored. The Sixteen year old spirit of the man who had murdered his parents was using the soul of one of his classmates to return to life. This was a situation worse than anything he could have possibly dreamed up in his worst nightmares.

Bakura was unimpressed, having managed to sneak behind Tom and was leaning against one of the pillars. "While you're monologuing like a Disney villain is distracting, why? There's no point in telling us everything. You could just as easily stop us from defeating you by, oh I don't know. Actually stopping us from doing something?" The Thief King said mockingly, casually twirling a pocket knife in his hands.

Harry took this opportunity to get a better look at his surroundings. The chamber was large, and sinister looking. Pillars lined the walls and the room was basically nothing more than open space. The entire place was a dark gray color, the torches on the wall glowed with a bright green fire that reminded him of Floo Powder and cast strange shadows. There were several tunnels that he assumed connected to other areas of the pipe system.

The strangest part of the whole setup was the giant marble head in the back. Given who the chamber belong too, Harry could only assume it was a giant bust of Salazar Slytherin's head. Salazar was a powerful looking man with a long beard and a skinny face. There was something eerie about it, but he couldn't place it.

Tom scowled and shot Bakura a nasty look. "You want me to do something do you? Well alright then. _Speak to me, Salazar, greatest of the Hogwarts four!_" Tom shouted in Parseltongue, turning towards the giant marble Salazar head behind him. As he spoke Tom raised his arms as if performing a chant. Harry could understand him though, and knew the action was simply for dramatic effect. Suddenly Tom's words registered as the mouth of the giant marble head started to open.

"What did he just say?" Bakura demanded, rounding on Harry. He couldn't understand snake language, but he knew from Tom's body language that things had just gotten serious, and he'd be damned before he was caught not knowing what was going on. Tom was the diary, Tom was the heir, and so in other words, Tom was going down. Bakura was determined to end this threat before it got any worse.

Harry gulped, going pale as Tom's exact words registered in his mind. "I think he just summoned the Basilisk."

**Note!  
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**Alternate Title: The Chapter of Many Cliffhangers**


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